A Purple Cherry Blossom
by forever-waiting
Summary: Naruto, Lee, Neji and Sakura are on a mission. What happens when Sakura goes on a mission with two guys who absolutely adore her? And what happens when she comes back to Konoha finding Sasuke waiting for her? NejiXSaku
1. A mission!

AN: juz as a warning...**_ the first three chapters are VERY boring... _**at least i think so. so juz endure it... it will get better!

and this is my first fanfic (actually more like the first STORY) i've ever written... so it's not very descriptive etc etc... n i was a complete noob when i wrote this... -shoots self-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 1

A mission!

* * *

_Prologue _

_"I will wait for you __even __until purple cherry blossom falls..." she told him quietly as they stood under the Cherry tree.  
_

_"I will stay with you until that day comes..."_

_-...  
_

_"It must be pretty..."_

_"What?"_

_"Purple cherry blossoms!"_

_"Yes, and it's my favourite flower." He said sarcastically, giving her a little smile that is only reserved for her...  
_

_"Don't tease me!" She pouted her lower lip, sulking._

_He gave her a quick kiss, "YOU are my purple cherry blossom..."  
_

* * *

(the dividing line means: "elsewhere" or "a few hours later" or "meanwhile")

Tsunade drummed her fingers on her desk, frowning behind her paperworks.

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune waited for the hokage's decision.

"Who is free at the moment?"

"Lee, Naruto, Neji, Hinata, Kiba… and Sakura." Her assisstant answered while checking off a list.

"Then I'll send Neji, Lee, and Sakura on this mission."

"But our client didn't give us enough information about it, we don't know which sort of ninjas to send! Plus it'd be too dangerous." The jounin protested to Tsunade.

"They'll be fine, the client gave us a LOT of money for it...she asked for the village's strongest ninjas, as many as possible..." Tsunade grinned, "Besides, having an ANBU captain leading two other Jounins means a mission can't possibly go wrong." the blonde sannin turned to Shizune with the mission sheet but paused, "Maybe I should put Naruto in this mision too..." _If strong ninjas is what she wants, then that's what I'll give her...  
_

* * *

Neji was training with Hiashi when he was asked to go to the Hokage's office. The tall ANBU captain sighed and excused himself from the training. He tilted his head slightly, and caught sight of a glimpse of purple behind a closed window... _Hinata-sama..._ Neji hid his smile behind his ANBU mask and left the Hyuuga mansion.

The meeting wasn't exactly like what he expected. Tsunade told him hardly anything, she just shoved a task sheet under his nose and said that's all.

The Hyuuga boy walked out of the Hokage tower completely confused. He began to look for Sakura, Lee and Naruto. But on the way to the training grounds, he started thinking of what a torture this mission would be...

_Nearly three months with a bowl-haircut boy who have a signature 'Good-guy-pose' and talks about 'Youth' every single day..._ The Hyuuga prodigy frowned, it nearly drove him crazy just to have SOME training with Lee... how would he ever survive being with the spandex-wearer for so long?! And Neji was certain that his 'youthful' friend's behaviour will be worse when he's around his 'Beautiful Lotus Flower'. The pale-eye jounin started to feel miserable already towards this mission, _maybe I should make an appointment with a psychotherapist in advance, just in case..._

With a sigh, Neji decided to think about his other team-mates, _Other than Lee... there's Naruto. Naruto, the loudest ninja of Konoha..._ Neji wanted to slam his head on the wall right now... _What did I do to deserve this?!_ Not that he dislike Naruto, the ANBU captain was quite thankful to the blonde for helping him solving his problems...

* * *

Naruto and Lee suddenly both sneezed as they fought, but they continued anyway.

"Kage Buyō!" Lee kicked the Kyuubi vessel off the ground and appeared behind him, but just as he was about to slam naruto onto the ground, the blonde formed a hand seal.

"Kage bunshin!" several Naruto clones appeared.

Sakura watched them intently with her clear, emerald eyes, admiring the two's strengths.

Naruto's clones dissapeared in puffs of smoke as Lee defeated them one by one.

"OUCH!" Naruto struggled to get up after another hard punch from Lee.

They have all grown in the past years, no longer the twelve years old children they once were. But somethings never change -- such as Naruto's orange jumper and Lee's green spandex.

"You are a strong opponent, Naruto-kun." Lee's teeth glinted.

"ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH" the blonde boy charged up again. _Damn that fuzzy-brows!_

'Mr. Spandex' dodged Naruto's blunt attack with ease, but Naruto couldn't stop himself; therefore... he crashed into a tree. "Lee, Sakura!" Neji's ANBU mask was off, and he wasn't in his uniform. He entered the scene just as Naruto fell, unconscious, "And... N-Naruto?"

They all turned to the ANBU captain, well, except Naruto, "Neji!"

"We have a mission."

* * *

The team jumped from tree to tree. It's going to be a long mission, so they weren't too much of a hurry. They were required to protect a little girl from the land of the Moon and then escort her to Yamabuki, which would take them at least three months.

Only Lee was very happy when he heard about this mission, _YES! A mission with Sakura-Chan! It is a great chance for me to win the heart of my beloved lotus blossom... ah, my beautiful Sakura!_

The rest of the team watched Lee with shock as he clinched his fist in a super dramatic way,"I will not dissapoint you, Sakura-Chan!"

Neji's prediction was correct.

"eek..." Sakura sweatdropped. She was thinking the exact same thing as Neji...

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the bowl-haircut boy... _No, this is MY chance to get Sakura-Chan to like me! I will not lose to fuzzy-brows! _And of course, only Naruto, the most stupid ninja ever would think Lee have a chance of being a love-rival..._  
_

* * *

They've been travelling for quite a while since they left Konoha, it was about lunch time, so they stopped for a break.

"A little girl..." Naruto complained as they were resting, "It's probably a C-ranked mission, how boring!"

"Why didn't the little girl come to Konoha?" Sakura ignored Naruto and asked their team leader, Neji.

"Hokage-sama did not say," the pale-eyed jounin answered.

"I wonder why…" Sakura murmured.

"HOW UNYOUTHFUL!"

The four of them proceeded shortly after the break. Rays of sunlight peeked through the leaves... it was almost autumn...

There were no scenaries, all the team saw for the whole day, was just living trees, dead trees, half-dead trees, dying trees... and more trees. But since the team have the two most amusing (and annoying) ninjas of Konoha with them, things weren't so bad after all...

"Naruto-kun, let's run under the sunset together!"

"Okay!"

"500 laps around this forest!"

"uh..."

-...

* * *

It was dark. It took them almost a whole week to get to the land of the Moon. This country was a small island in the shape of a crescent moon. Not much was known about that country...

Moonlight shone on the four of them, it was so quiet... that is, until Naruto arrived.

Neji lead them through the streets of a small town.

"Why can't they use their own Shinobis," Naruto folded his arms across his chest, sulking. _They are wasting my precious training time! This means MONTHES without training..._

"This country doesn't have a Shinobi village." Sakura rolled her eyes. _Naruto doesn't know ANYTHING!__ What's worse is I'll be stuck with him for such a long time... Neji is the only person in this team with a brain! _she sighed.

* * *

Next chapter

Neji -- Sasuke? (AN: how come I can't type an arrow?!)

PS: the writing in italics is the characters' thoughts. and I hope all those dividing lines didn't get you lost... I promise there'd be less dividing lines in the next chapter...

* * *

-End of chapter-

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	2. Neji? Sasuke?

Uh, I don't own Naruto.

But Fantasy is my character… sorry for randomly inserting a character of my own… I can't make them escort a Naruto character 'cause it'd be too weird. And she's here… uh, to give the characters chances to be together and all, hah hah. And for Neji to be heroic and save the beauty aka Sakura etc, etc…

* * *

Chapter 2 

Sasuke --) Neji?

* * *

"He…Hello?" a girl around fifteen appeared in front of them. She was stuttering like Hinata when she saw the handsome ANBU captain. 

_I thought she was supposed to be a LITTLE girl…_ Sakura thought, while the other members of the team were wondering the exact same thing. _She's about our age…_

"Fantasy, these ninjas will take care of you on the way to Yamabuki," a woman stood beside the girl, then she turned and smiled at the team, "would you like some tea?"

"No thanks," Neji answered politely. _So the girl's name is Fantasy… strange name.  
_

* * *

They departed the next day as planned... 

For the whole day, nobody talked, not even Naruto. **This one day was like a millinium!** Inner Sakura shouted.

Neji eyed the girl suspiciously, but didn't say anything. He glanced at Naruto and Lee from time to time, but the two still didn't say anything.

"Be careful, this is not going to be an easy mission." Neji whispered to his comrades when Fantasy was asleep in the tent.

"All we have to do is to escort a girl to Yamabuki, what's the big deal?" Naruto shrugged.

"If that was the case, then Hokage-sama wouldn't need to send two jounins and two chounins for this 'little' mission."

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun! With our youthfulness, no enemy can harm us!" Lee did his "nice-guy-pose"; a rainbow appeared, waves came up behind him, and his sparkling teeth blinded everyone. That marked the end of their discussion...

* * *

"Good morning!" Naruto said, greeting everyone energetically. 

"Good morning, Naruto!" Lee replied with equal amount of enthusiasm. He had been training for the whole morning. _If I don't do 1000 push ups, I'd have to do 1000 punches on that log…_

Fantasy was observing Lee's training silently, her big blue eyes made Lee feeling very uneasy_. This guy is crazy... but very strong... and he has a crush on that bubble-gum haired girl? hmm... interesting people... _Fantasy hid her smile.

"Breakfast is ready!" Sakura waved to them.

Naruto and Lee rushed to Sakura.

"Sakura-Chan is such a great cook!" Naruto exclaimed, taking more as he was swallowing it. 

"The food she cooks can drive all the weariness out of everyone!" Lee seemed to be competing with Naruto, he shouted as he stuffed the food down as fast as he could just like Naruto. These two had been like this since the start of the mission. Both wanting to impress the girl they loved.

Neji sighed as Sakura watched the two with great concern on her face.

_I hope these two don't choke and die... _

"Morons." the Hyuuga boy murmured.

Sakura turned to Neji and half smiled when he said that word. _He sounded like Sasuke-kun… __  
_

* * *

-Cling!- (it's meant to be the sound of kunai clinking when they strike each other) 

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shouted as the foreign ninjas attacked.

Sakura dodged the first thirteen kunais, but more came out of nowhere. She was going to take the hit. Then Lee caught the kunai just in time.

"Sakura, protect Fantasy!" the fuzzy-brow man smiled at her, teeth glinting as brightly as ever. Sakura nodded and ran towards Fantasy.

It's being several years since Sasuke left Konoha. The pink-haired Kunoichi had become quite a strong ninja, but her specialty was still medical jutsus.

She turned out like a second Tsunade in these years... yet she was not the only one who improved. Rock Lee had become Konoha's Number One taijutsu fighter, Naruto had learnt to control some of his Kyuubi chakra... and of course, Neji the Hyuuga genius was the ANBU captain... the first to become a jounin in their circle of friends.

It's funny now she thinks about it... this team represents a whole variety of Konoha's strengths... best taijutsu fighter, most chakra capacity and ninjutsu fighter, most amazing Dojutsu user... and herself was the best medic-nin other than Tsunade...

* * *

Three other masked men surrounded Neji. _From their stances, they must all be genin to chunnin level...__but there sure are lots of them..._ Neji thought the situation over quickly in his head. _This is probably a decoy... our mission should be harder than this..._ Suddenly, another man attacked him from behind. 

-Cling!-

Neji stopped the attack and pushed the man onto another enemy with a soft fist attack.

"This guy has eyes behind his head!" the other man exclaimed.

Neji paused, "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"

They didn't see how the ANBU captain attacked, there seemed to be thousands of hands...

"Two strikes!" Neji blocked the chakra point of the two that weren't injured.

"Four strikes!" all four men were hit, not knowing how they got hit.

"Eight strikes!"

…

"Sixty four strikes!"

They all fell.

Neji chicly stood there.

_He's so strong and cool! _Fantasy stared at him with her bright eyes, _and very handsome, too…_

Sakura stood next to Fantasy, trying to protect her.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked her. But the shorter girl didn't answer, she was too busy watching the tall ANBU captain.

Sakura followed Fantasy's eyes and saw Neji standing in the middle of four unconscious enemies... _wow, he's cool! No wonder Fantasy is staring at him like this... hey wait, what am I thinking? Did I just think Neji's really cool?_ Sakura tried to shake the thought out of her mind, _why am I staring at Neji with her?!_

Neji checked his surroundings one more time with his Byakugan.

_That Fantasy girl's eyes are so creepy... _Neji thought. _I wish she could just stop staring at me! And why is Sakura staring at me, too?! Do I have something on my face?  
_

* * *

It didn't take them very long for all of them to finish the fight. Naruto's Kage bunshins attacked the rest of the enemies, sending them into the air while Lee finished them off easily. 

None of them was severely injured; there were only very light wounds.

Sakura healed them immediately. She was not really surprised that Neji was completely unharmed. _He really is a genius… like Sasuke-kun…_ The thought of Sasuke always made her sad. She'd do ANYTHING just to get him back..._  
_

* * *

_Sakura tried to stop Sasuke from leaving Konoha, but Sasuke didn't listen to her. He turned around, cold eyes emotionless. She wanted to see what he was thinking through those deep eyes, but she could only feel that the world was spinning around her… Sasuke looked serious, in a way that she couldn't understand... he spoke, in a voice so bitter that made her shiver in fear._

_"This is my fate…" his voice faded on the last word. Somehow, he started to change… his raven colored hair grew longer and longer, his eyes became a shade of lavender, though still mysterious… the word "fate" echoed as he changed…_

"_Ne…Neji?" Sakura reached out as Neji turned away, just like the time when Sasuke left Konoha…_

Sakura woke up with a jump, _What was this feeling?_

* * *

Next chapter 

A Long Night

The story is diffinitely not about my own characters; It's SakuXneji and it will always be. Fantasy is just here to make troubles so that the story could develop, lol.

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	3. A Long Night

Chapter 3 

Long night

* * *

The five of them walked on in an awkward silence. 

Neji frowned, _why were there only genin level ninjas? And they WEREN'T decoys... If this mission is going to be as difficult as we thought, they should've been jounnin level… unless there are more enemies and they were just testing our strength? We shouldn't let our guard down…_ He activated his Byakugan and scanned around the area. No enemies.

Fantasy looked at Neji with great interest. _He's tall... strong... and very muscular. What a perfect guy! He is obviously the smartest of the team... and he looks just like HIM... _the girl chuckled to herself,_ this is going to be an interesting mission.  
_

"How old are you?" Fantasy asked Neji, with a slight blush on her face.

Neji turned to the short girl with surprise, "seventeen." he muttered as an answer.

"You are really amazing," Fantasy continued to make Neji feel uneasy, "do you have a girlfriend?"

The other three just stared at them talking. They wanted to laugh, but didn't dare to. Who would ever dare to laugh at the Hyuuga genius? Even Naruto wasn't THAT stupid.

"Uh, no." Neji was never good with girls. In fact, he disliked dealing with girls, but some girls simply find him attractive... just like his millions of fangirls.

"Your eyes are very cool." Fantasy smiled in a somewhat evilish way. She herself had very interesting eyes, too --- Big, blue and had some sort of translucency to it... but it's not pretty, instead it kind of creeps everyone out... They were a great contrast with Neji's pale purple eyes.

"Uh, thanks?" Neji desperately searched his mind for ideas to end this conversation.

The short girl smirked as she saw the ANBU captain avoided her intense gaze, _so cute!  
_

"It's going to rain." Lee suddenly alerted everyone. Neji let out a sigh, starting to like his bowl-haircut teammate more now...

The five of them sped up. But rain soon fell, getting more violent with every step they took.

"We have to find a shelter!" Sakura shouted. Her voice was drowned out by the pouring rain.

* * *

All of them were soaked, and the rain outside the cave was only getting stronger, the rain was becoming a thunderous storm. 

_The rain came from nowhere... _Sakura flicked her wet pink hair, _there wasn't even a cloud in the sky a few minutes ago! What's going on?_

Fantasy looked at the now-soaked 'boy-of-her-dreams', and nearly fainted. Sakura watched as she saw Fantasy's face changed into one by one the colours of the rainbow; so she asked out of concern: "are you alright, Fantasy-chan?"

"um... yea. Just a bit hot..."

_She's feeling hot in this kind of weather?_ the medic-nin shook her head. This is when she suddenly realised why Fantasy was acting like that ---

Sakura could see Neji's shirt sticking tightly to his body now that his clothes are soaked, showing his muscles clearly. His long hair were darker than ever; spreading down like waterfall but with some bits that were slightly messed up... The tall boy 's masculine arms were folded across his chest in a relaxed manner; he was leaning against the wall of the cave. A single lock of dark, wet hair fell loosely and brushed against his pale face, making a huge contrast with his near-white eyes. He looked emotionless, as usual... His eyes stared into the fire which Lee had just set up... his eyes were so thoughtful and deep... but no one could ever see what he is thinking, yet he was always like a mind-reader... Neji, the famous mysterious ANBU captain...

_he's so charming..._ both girls swooned over their thoughts.

* * *

The team changed into dry clothes. 

But unfortunately, Sakura's spare clothes were all unwearable because the rain soaked her bag, too. Fantasy only had one set to spare for herself... in fact, she did have spare clothes, but she'd never let Sakura wear them. Which means...

"Sakura-Chan! You can wear my spare ones!" Naruto offered joyously, taking his great chance.

"You can wear mine!" Lee offered at the same time --- a green "thing" dangling from his hand.

Sakura looked at the two boys and the clothes they held towards her… _Orange… or Green…_

_That orange is hideous; then again, the green tight spandex is worse! These two have such bad taste! _Sakura's eyes widened at the image in her mind --- herself doing the "nice-guy-pose" or running around shouting "I'm-going-to-be-a-Hokage"… this is awful! She sighed, _what did I do to deserve this? _The inner Sakura shouted:** HELL NO! I'm NOT gonna wear THAT!**

"Uh, I'm fine, my clothes are nearly dried, and… ACHOO!" she sneezed. _Oh great._

"Hurry and put this on! You'd catch a cold if you wear those wet clothes any longer!" Naruto held his orange jumper closer to Sakura. _I can't let Fuzzy-brows win Sakura-Chan's heart before me!_

"You must not catch a cold, Sakura-Chan! I will protect you until the day I die!" Lee smiled; his teeth gleamed, not as brightly as they were, perhaps tuned down by the rain.

Fantasy watched with great interest and an amused look on her face. _Good thing I didn't tell any of them about my spare skirts..._

_Why am I stuck on a mission with these people?_ Neji shook his head, he looked sympathetically at Sakura.

"Here." Neji said in a monotonous tone.

_NOOOOOOOOOOOO!_ Fantasy's mind screamed... _That's NOT the plan! _

Sakura was very grateful. At least Neji's clothes looked much more normal. She took it, and muttered a "thanks", then went deeper into the cave to get changed.

"What's wrong with our clothes?" Naruto wondered aloud. A confused and idiotic expression on his face.

"I know! She must be in love with Neji!" Lee answered Naruto in an "I-know-what's-going-on" way, then turned to Neji, one fist in the air, "I will not lose to you!"

The Hyuuga boy sighed again… "Baka."

* * *

Neji's clothes were warm, and as expected they were clean and tidy. Sakura unfolded them, with a blush, she put them on. _I'm wearing Neji's clothes... I'm wearing HIS clothes?... _images apeared in her mind..._ Neji held her in his arms:"oh Sakura-Chan, you look so adorable... it makes me want to hug, no, kiss you..."_

_That's not gonna happen... _she snapped out of it. She changed quickly, and then went to the fire where the others sat. Neji's clothes were obviously too big for her. The sleeves were too long; the shirt hangs loosely and she nearly tripped over the long trousers. But they made her look very cute.(AN: the clothes are different from the ones Neji wore in the anime)

"Sakura-Chan looks so ADORABLE!" Lee didn't miss any opportunity to praise the girl of his dreams. Sakura simply gulped, not wanting to face those "love heart like things" which Lee is capable of sending.

_She does look pretty cute..._ Neji looked away, not wanting to admit those thoughts he just had. _must be the influence of those two guys..._

"oh Sakura-Chan! you look so adorable... it makes me want to hug, no, kiss you!!!" The number one loud ninja of Konoha ran to Sakura with his arms spread wide, but only to meet Sakura's angry punch.

"BAKA NARUTO!"

Sakura soon calmed down and laughed nervously as everyone except Neji stared at her._ Ah... as expected... those words are only something Lee or Naruto would say... Neji would never care... And Sasuke-kun would probably react the same way. Why do I keep comparing Neji with Sasuke-kun?  
_

Fantasy envied Sakura. She gave the pink-haired kunoichi a death glare as she sat down.

But Sakura was too busy thinking about Neji... Wondering what's so attractive about Neji that she had all those weird thoughts... so she concluded, it's because she haven't had a boyfriend in a while... actually, she never had a boyfriend, so her hormones were getting a bit out of order when they saw such a handsome boy...

As for Neji, he was thinking about Tenten after he got Sakura out of his mind. He missed training with the weapon-mistress... She was his best friend, since they've been in the same team for so long, and she was an ANBU, too... He wondered what kind of new techniques the panda-hair girl would come up with when he gets back to Konoha...

It was dark outside, they could hear the mixed sound of thunder and the splashing of rain hitting the ground.

"Hey fuzzy-brows."

Lee turned to Naruto and yawned.

"Since we are so cool, let's name ourselves... Team Naruto!" The blonde nudged him.

"..." everyone stared at him... as if he just had a bowl-hair cut like Lee and grew thick eyebrows.

"No." Neji remarked.

"Why not?!" The famous stupid ninja of Konoha whined.

"Team Dragonslayers."

"Huh?" the team looked at Fantasy.

"I... um, think you are all very brave and strong... so I thought, dragonslayers..." _actually, only Neji suits the name, ah, Neji... He's like a true knight..._ Fantasy blushed.

"Sounds... okay."

"Yea... well, she's our client, I guess it's right for her to decide our name..." (AN: also easier for me to name them all, MUAHAH! -cough-)

"We need to rest." Neji got up. He didn't really want to rest... But he knew everyone should get some sleep now... THOSE silly dreams still haunted him... a girl he loved was crying out his name --- not that he love anyone in REALITY, it was just a dream... but he felt that he was missing something important, though he didn't understand what.

* * *

He could hear her gentle breathing. Shadows flickered around the cave as lightening strike. He could feel that she was slightly afraid of it. He wanted to reach out and hold her, protect her… another lightening strike, she quietly gasped. 

"Sakura-Chan, are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine…" Sakura herself didn't even understand why she was so scared of lightening...

Lee blinked, he was unsure of how to comfort her… the night seemed long and saturnine. Every time a lightening strike, she gets more frightened. It troubled him, he want Sakura to feel protected. He loved her. She was his lotus blossom...

_

* * *

_

Naruto had slept soundly. He didn't hear the lightening at all.

"Good morning, Lee!" he gently punched lee on the shoulder.

Lee had lines under his eyes like Garra's. He was really worried about Sakura last night.

"The rain still hasn't stopped," Neji looked at these two then suddenly spun around, "where's Fantasy?"

* * *

Next chapter 

Fantasy

Argh, I just want to write on and on and on… and blabbers about rubbish… anyway… onto the next chapter...

PS: writing in bold are inner sakura's words.

PSPS: thanks, **_Kyo-vs-Yuki_** for correcting my mistakes!

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	4. Fantasy

Fantasy: HEY! How dare you, how dare you even TRY to get rid of me just like that?!

Me: calm down! This story isn't about you! Now, for some real NejiXSaku action… MUAHAH! –chokes-

Fantasy: -roll eyes- you are so stupid.

Me: wahhhhhhhh!

Fantasy: whatever. So when will I appear again?!

Me: uh… chapter ten?

Fantasy: WHAT?!!!! -throws kunais, shurikans, random axes at me-

…

Me: -with black patches around my eyes- well… anyway, I don't own Naruto…

* * *

Chapter 4 

Fantasy

* * *

Neji activated his Byakugan. No sign of Fantasy anywhere. 

"Damn! They took her while we were asleep!" Naruto swore.

"No they didn't." Neji said calmly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY DIDN'T?!"

"She ran away." the Hyuuga genius sat down, head in his hands.

"Huh?" Naruto stared at Neji.

"But why would she do that?" Lee asked.

Neji didn't answer. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts. The other three just waited for him.

* * *

"We can't stand around like this all day!!!" The blonde ninja finally got impatient. 

The ANBU captain got up, "obviously, we misinterpreted the purpose of this mission."

"Uh… what?"

"It seems that we aren't meant to escort her, but to prevent her from running away," Neji explained, "firstly, I was on guard last night, and I didn't sense anyone coming in. You three were sleeping near Fantasy, obviously, you didn't sense anyone suspicious, neither."

"But if she ran away as you said, you would've seen her with your Byakugan!" Sakura objected.

"No," Neji replied, looking slightly troubled, "there's… something strange about her eyes…"

"You mean she can fool Byakugan?" the pink-haired Kunoichi frowned, "then how can we find her if Byakugan doesn't work on her..."

"We need to sort out the situation right now," Neji continued, "Secondly, that girl is definitely a ninja. They don't need to ask ninjas to protect a ninja."

"She could've ran away earlier though." Sakura pointed out.

Neji thought about this, "Maybe she wanted to get our trust, so when she run away we wouldn't realize immediately." He paused, "Also, the genins we encountered earlier weren't attacking HER… they were attacking US."

Sakura listened to Neji's analysis. _He's so smart… come to think of it, he was always being the leader of a team... no wonder he is an ANBU captain. aw... the way he talks... it's NEARLY as cool as Sasuke-kun! _"so you mean the genins were attacking under her orders?"

Neji nodded, "It's possible. Therefore, we need to go back to the land of the moon." _Sakura is quite intelligent. She found all the flaws in my ratiocination and understood everything at once…  
_

"Why do we need to go back to the land of the moon? Shouldn't we chase after her?" Lee was confused.

"Because our clients hid parts of the purpose of this mission from us, we have the right to pull out from this," Sakura said, "and even if we want to continue this mission, we need all the information instead of just going along our ratiocination. We need to know the true reason for why we were sent. And we need to find out what sort of ninja this girl is... Am I right, Neji-san?" she gave him a little smile.

Neji raised an eyebrow slightly, _she is very intelligent._

"Uh… " Naruto nodded along, pretending that he understood all those.

* * *

Sakura returned Neji's clothes to him. 

"When did the rain stop?" Neji asked.

"Dunno…" Naruto looked up.

"It stopped a while after midnight," Lee told him.

"Which would mean…" Sakura wondered. Neji nodded.

The other two looked at them, dumbfounded, not knowing what they are talking about.

* * *

"Argh… Neji's stealing Sakura-Chan away from us!" Naruto discussed this matter with Lee during break time, "he's as bad as that damn Sasuke!" 

"Yes, it seems that they understand each other quite well." Lee whispered back.

"Look at that… they are eating together…" the kyuubi-vessel narrowed his eyes.

"Yes… and they are talking to each other…" Lee had a worried look on his face, "hey wait… weren't we ALL eating together during the breaks?"

Naruto considered Lee's words. _He does have a point…_ "then why isn't she eating with us right now?!"

"we are hiding in the bushes…"

"oh… but still! They are talking to each other!"

* * *

"They are talking about us." Neji didn't even look up. 

"Obviously…" Sakura giggled. _Why are they hiding like that? Neji have a 360 degrees vision and his Byakugan would be able to see through those bushes easily... _Sakura wondered,_ not that he'd need Byakugan to know they are hiding there since they are sooooooo obvious!_** Two Bakas!** Inner Sakura shouted.

* * *

"She's laughing with him!" Naruto spotted Sakura's giggle and ignored Lee's previous comments. 

"And he seemed to be having fun, too!" Lee was shocked.

* * *

"These two are so naive." Neji showed her his rare smile. 

"yeah!" Sakura tilted her head to one side, "and they don't even realize it." **He's so cute when he smiles!** Inner Sakura said, cheerfully. Outer Sakura pushed Inner Sakura out of the way, _what am I thinking?! My heart belongs to Sasuke-kun!_

* * *

"They are in love…" the two in the bush chorused, tears streamed down their faces, "we don't stand a chance again a genius like Neji…" then they hugged together. 

"Fuzzy-brows, what should we do?!" Naruto sobbed.

"I guess as long Sakura-Chan is happy, we should be happy for her..."

* * *

They arrived the village late in the evening. 

-knock-

"please, open the door!" Sakura shouted.

The woman let them in.

* * *

After a long silence, she finally spoke, 

"I'm sorry. Fantasy had always been… strange. Her eyes, it's as if… we have to do whatever she want us to… it's an… ability she had since she was young…" the woman looked away, "and it seemed that she also have an ability to control water…"

"Water... rain?!" Sakura's eyes widened._ That means…_

"We wanted to send her to Yamabuki, there's a genjustu master there, willing to take Fantasy as his student… but Fantasy didn't want to, so…"

"You hired ninjas to stop her from running away?"

"Yes… I'm sorry that I didn't tell you these earlier… I don't know what came over me… maybe it's her, trying to stop me…"

"Mind control…" Neji murmured._ Of course!_ _We all behaved strangely when we were around her… Naruto wasn't so noisy, Lee didn't say a thing about youth… but if she liked me, she could've made me like her… why didn't she do that? Unless it was an act she put on pretending to like me? And if her mind controlling power is so great, she could've simply stopped this woman from sending ninjas... there are so many doubtful points in this mission..._

"is there any flaw to her power?" Sakura asked.

"I… don't know…" the woman cried, "Please, stop her…"

* * *

Next chapter 

Dream?

Fantasy: am I the villain of the story?

Me: he heh… mayyyyyyybe?

Fantasy: I'd better not be… otherwise I'm going to kill you!

Me: oh… but I like the Akatsukis... I don't want THEM to be the villains...

Fantasy: I thought you said there'd be more NejiXSaku in this chapter?

Me: I truly apologize to my audiences… I wanted to explain the situation then accidentally wrote too much!

Fantasy: whatever…

Me: I'm so sorry… I promise! They will at least hug each other in the next chapter! –writes it down my little notebook- I know this chapter is boring... but Sakura is attracted to Neji by intelligence... not lust.

Fantasy: what a shame… I kinda like Neji…

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	5. Dream?

Fantasy: I think the last chapter was boring.

Me: hn…

Fantasy: and I think you should have more kissing and hugging.

Me: hn…

Fantasy: are you even listening?!

Me: hn…

Fantasy: …

Me: what do you think of my new "Sasuke-attitude"? -smirks and does a sasuke-pose- Pretty cool, aye?!

Fantasy: hn…

* * *

Chapter 5 

Dream?

* * *

The four of them left the land of the moon. The woman told them everything she knew, at least, that's what she said. According to her, Fantasy would be heading towards the Forest of Azrael. 

"We need to find out her weakness." Neji said.

"Maybe it's like the sharingan, as long as you don't look at her, she won't be able to control you." Lee announced in a matter-of-fact way... Always trying to surpass the geniuses gave him the advantage in this sort of situations.

"Maybe Neji is her weakness, ha hah!"

"that was a lame joke, Naruto…" Sakura knocked Naruto on the head.

"But if she likes Neji, we could…" before Lee could finish, Neji gave him a death glare.

After a few minutes silence, Naruto asked an idiotic question: "hey, Sakura-Chan."

"huh?"

"How did you fall in love with Neji?"

"…"

"I mean, what is it about him that you love so much?"

"I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!" flames rose behind the angry Sakura, her eyes turning red, sparkling with signs of "I'M-GONNA-KILL-NARUTO!" _why would that idiot think I'm in love with Neji?!_ **Baka Naruto!!!**

"Uh…" they all stopped, while Naruto hid behind a tree.

"Let's take a break here." Neji suggested.

"Good idea." Lee wiped some sweat off his forehead… _Sakura-Chan is so scary! _

And so, the two of them sat down and had a good break while watching Sakura chasing Naruto around the trees.

"HELP! HELP!" Naruto shouted while running…

"N—A------R-----U--------T------O--------" Sakura somehow appeared in front of him and had a huge axe in her hand which she found from nowhere, "heh heh…" she gave a few creepy laughs, "no one's going to save you now…"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" you could hear Naruto's scream from outer space…

* * *

Now, back to Earth: two earthlings were talking to each other. 

"Kakashi, isn't that Naruto's scream?" Gai asked his eternal rival.

"…" Kakashi was still reading his orange little book, "huh? Did you say something?"

"ARGH!!!!!!! Curse you and your "hip" attitude!!!!!"

* * *

"we are here… Forest of Azrael…" Neji put up a hand, indicating them to stop. They looked around. 

The forest was dark and sombre. Fear seemed to be lurking behind every tree. They couldn't hear anything; there weren't even a sound of birds' flapping wings. All was still, but moving at the same time. It was as if there were eyes around them, watching… yet they couldn't sense anyone.

Sakura gulped, she moved closer to the others.

_I must look after Sakura-Chan, _Lee thought,_ she is like a delicate lotus that needs my youthful spirit's protection!_

"Byakugan."

"I thought you said Byakugan doesn't work on that girl?!" _This forest is so creepy… why would anyone want to come here… _Naruto shuddered._  
_

"She might have other people with her," Neji explained, "and I felt that we were being watched." He scanned the area.

"Well?"

"This is strange… Fantasy is over there…" Neji pointed to his left.

"Huh?! I thought…" Naruto turned to that direction and caught a glimpse of Fantasy's blue dress behind an ancient tree.

"Are you sure that's her?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I think so…" Neji didn't sound so certain.

"Let's go and have a look!" Lee suggested. Sakura and Naruto nodded and walked towards the tree with him, kunai in their hands.

"Wait… I think she knows we are here, maybe this is a trap." Neji whispered.

"You are very smart, Neji-kun. That's why i luuuuuuuuuuuv you so much, sweetie!" Fantasy stood in front of them, smirking.

_This girl... she's so... annoying... the way she talked about Neji... ARGH!!!!!!! _Sakura clutched her fists tight.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!" Naruto charged up at Fantasy.

"Wait, Na----" before Neji could finish, Naruto stopped in front of the girl, eyes blank.

"Naruto?"

Naruto turned around and looked at his comrades.

With a laugh, Fantasy left. The three of them didn't chase her; they were more worried about Naruto.

"Naruto-kun? Are you alright?" Lee was very concerned.

Naruto didn't say anything; he just stood there.

"Snap out of it, NARUTO!" Sakura went up and started shaking Naruto.

A few minutes later, Naruto finally started moaning, "aw..."

* * *

They put up the tent after an hour's useless search for Fantasy. 

"It seems that her mind control works for quite a while after she left…" Sakura sighed, _how are we supposed to defeat an enemy like that?! And why did Naruto and Lee insist that we have to continue this stupid mission?! ARGH… And what are those stupid feelings i keep getting whenever that Fantasy talks?!!!_

**you only get mad when she talks with Neji...**

_NO I DON'T!_

**yes you do... and this feeling is called... JEALOUSY!!! HAH HAH! you are in love...**

_No way!!!_

**Yes way!! well, at least i'm glad that we are over Sasuke. it was getting a bit boring.**

_What are you talking about?!  
_

As Sakura battled with her two inner thoughts, everyone sat outside the tent in silence, all wondering about different things.

* * *

She had that dream again. But this time it was slightly different. 

_Sasuke changed into Neji, but instead of leaving, he reached out a hand. Sakura grabbed it, trying to hold on to him as long as possible. She felt that he would leave her soon. Neji just smiled. He didn't say anything; he leaned towards her and held her in his arms. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but she wanted it to last forever. Everything else seemed unimportant now. All she wanted was him, to hold her like this… gently… forever… _

_"Stay…" she murmured. He simply shook his head. _

_"Good bye, Sakura." He breathed in her ears. _

_"Don't go…" she cried, tears suddenly started to roll down her cheeks… out of control. _

_He didn't answer. _

_"Neji…" _

_He released her. _

_"No… Neji… don't…" she sobbed, "don't…" _

_He became a shadow of a shade, dissolving into the background of her dreams… _

_"NEJI!!" she chased after him, unable to touch him, "Neji… No!" she shouted, "don't… don't…" her own voice faded into a whisper… _

_"No… No… Neji…" she repeated those words over and over… standing alone in a darkness that was consuming her. Her tears had run dry… Sasuke came back. But she didn't care. This is not what she wanted… _

_"Neji…" _

She woke up, finding two familiar faces above her head. Lee and Naruto were staring at her in a very weird way.

"What are you doing?" she said in a sleepy voice and yawned.

"You were screaming 'Neji!' the entire time, and woke us all up." Naruto answered, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Sakura was blushing. _Oh no… I actually slept talked?! This is terrible… what would Neji think… ARGH!_

"That is incorrect, Naruto-kun." Lee said.

_Thank goodness, _Sakura thought.

"She was actually shouting 'No, Neji, don't!'" Lee finished his sentence.

_WHAT?! _Sakura felt heat coming up her face again…

"Don't what?" Naruto asked her with great curiosity.

_This is terrible… this is terrible… ahhhhhhhh!_ Sakura wanted to scream, _how could this possibly happen?!_

"You must've heard it wrong! I mean, why would I ever dream about Neji? I was probably talking about Sasuke-kun and because you were sleepy, you misinterrupted my words and thought I was talking about Neji and I was actually thinking about Sasuke-kun-and-I-wasn't-thinking-about-Neji-at- all-and-I-well-uh…" Sakura started blabbering on about "this is all a misunderstanding". **I TOLD YOU! YOU LOVE NEJI!! **_Shut up!!!_

"Maybe she dreamt that she married Neji and Neji was beating her," Naruto told Lee, "and so she meant 'Neji don't beat me'."

"Hunnnn?!" Lee exclaimed, "how could Neji do such a terrible thing to Sakura-Chan?!"

Sakura continued explaining herself while Lee and Naruto discussed about Neji's unforgivable behaviour.

All three of them completely forgot that Neji was there, too…

_Idiots._ Neji sighed.

* * *

Next chapter 

A kiss from Sakura

Me: I really want to thank Yutaka Haru for your one thousand words review… -bows- it was so nice of you to help like dat!

Fantasy: wow… hey look, she said that I'm cool! Muahahahah!

Me: she never said you are cool! She just said Fantasy is an unusual name!

Fantasy: hmm… same thing.

Me: no it's not!

Fantasy: well, why are we having this conversation anyway? –Changes subject no justu!-

PS: in case you are wondering what Azrael is, it is the king of the terrors, angel of the dead… etc. in one word, it's scary. And no, this forest isn't in Naruto, 100 purity (as they would put on those milk cartons) out of my imagination.

* * *

-End of chapter- 

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	6. A Kiss From Sakura

nothing much to say.

* * *

Chapter 6 

A kiss from Sakura

* * *

Neji was the only one who acted normal that day after the morning's incident. Naruto was glaring at him the whole time, in a way of both jealousy and disappointment. Sakura couldn't even bring herself to look at any of the three guys. 

Neji sighed.

"If my ratiocination is correct. I think in this mission, Fantasy is our enemy. There's no such thing as escort her to Yamabuki."

"WHAT?!" Naruto and Lee stared at their captain.

Sakura wondered how Neji got to that conclusion.

"I think even that woman in the Land of the Moon was being mind-controled. All she said were lies."

"That would make a bit of sense..." the pink-hair kunoichi's mind raced, "you mean Fantasy requested this mission and was meaning to challenge Konoha?"

Neji looked at her. _Of course! That'd make explain so many things!_ He nodded, "I didn't think of that, I wondered why she wanted to fight us, but I think your reasoning is right." _I never looked at the situation from this point of view..._

Naruto and Lee looked from Neji to Sakura, Sakura back to Neji... in a strange way...

The awkward silence returned.

Sakura blushed as she remembered the morning's incidence, then mentally cursed herself. _Why are they looking at us like this... I don't even like Neji!_ But then, she hesitated, _or do I?_ Those dreams… they seemed so real… _do I still love Sasuke-kun?_ She asked herself, but unable to answer her own question. _Did I ever love Sasuke-kun?_ This suddenly popped into her mind, _or was the love I thought I had for Sasuke-kun just my own childish fantasy?_ … She smiled bitterly, _then why, why would I love Neji? _

_Because… just because…_ her own voice echoed in her mind.

"Maybe we should split up and search for Fantasy." Naruto felt that he couldn't stand this whole silence any longer. _That guy… he's way worse than Sasuke… the whole 'I-don't-care' attitude…_

"It's not a good idea," Neji told him calmly, "even if you find her, what can you do to her by yourself?"

"ARGH…" _damn that guy's logic!_

"I think Naruto is right…" Sakura commented, looking down at her own feet while she blushed even more furiously under the other three's gaze, "I mean… we are only trying to figure out her weakness, right? So if we find her, we'll just hide ourselves, at the end of the day, we can report back to each other…" though on the inside, Sakura agreed with Neji_…_ but she didn't want to be around these three right now. She just wanted to go off by herself and let her mind cool down a bit…_ I am selfish… _she bit her lip. **We really have to sort these problems out.**

Neji didn't say anything, though he wanted to object Sakura, he stopped himself._ She's confused, _he glanced at her, knowing exactly what she's thinking by her every slightest movement. _Maybe I should just give the team a break today._ He nodded lightly, "keep in contact with these." he passed each of them a bleeper.

Sakura could see that Neji knew she didn't mean what she just said.

Though Neji's expressions never changed no matter what he was thinking, Sakura felt that she understood Neji a bit more now. She could tell something that's behind those lavender coloured eyes, some hidden emotion... These pale eyes, are unlike Sasuke's dark ones but they had similarities, they were mysterious, and deep, hiding all his emotions within, like the ANBU mask that Neji always wore… But Neji understood everyone so well... During the whole mission, Sakura felt that Neji could see right through her and read her mind even better than herself.

They all went off to different directions, each have things they wanted to think about. Except for Lee.

Lee caught up with Neji after the other two left.

"What is it." Neji asked, didn't even turn around. His voice was bland as usual.

"Please protect Sakura-Chan, don't hurt her," Lee said in a very serious tone, "if you hurt her, I will hurt you, and I shall pay you twice, no, five times the damage you do to her! Look after her, treat her gently…"

"What are you talking about." Neji said nonchalantly.

"I'm saying, when you become her boyfriend or husband --- " Lee went up to shake Neji, but before he could do that or finish his sentence, Neji gave him a tiresome look.

"I don't like her." that's all he said.

Lee opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Neji was already gone, leaving him standing there, stupefied.

* * *

Neji wasn't really telling the truth. He knew he does like Sakura, but it was in a friendly way, like the way he feels towards Tenten... they are his comrades. But he didn't want to cause trouble by saying he does LIKE Sakura. He'd never hear the end of it if Lee or Naruto heard that. 

But still, Neji wondered. _Does she love me? Why? I hardly know her, and I've only started to like her after all the incidents in this mission... perhaps I should pay a bit more attention to her from now on… hmm, talking about Tenten, i REALLY miss training with her... spending my time with those morons are really annoying.  
_

* * *

_He doesn't like Sakura-Chan?_ Lee felt anger rose within him when he slowly digested the new information, _how could he? Sakura-Chan showed him her feelings, and he rejected them?! This is unforgivable! To hurt a beautiful lotus bud… to leave a frail cherry blossom weeping…

* * *

_"This is Future-Hokage, i still haven't found anything yet." 

"Future Hokage?"

"I thought it'd be great if we all have a code name..."

"..." Neji didn't know what to say to Naruto.

"Maybe you should have a shorter code name."

"Fuzzy-brows? When did you come in."

"Don't call me Fuzzy-brows! My code name is 'Youthful'!"

"hmmm, alright, i change my code name to 'Ramen'!"

"..." Neji listened to the two's stupid conversation.

"so, Neji! what's your code name?"

"..." _i refuse to be involved in this... why did i give these bleepers to them again?_

"Let's name him." Lee suggested.

"I know I know! His code name will be 'Fate'!"

"Great idea, Naruto-Kun!"

"Sakura-Chan?! What about you?"

"What the heck is going on?"

"What's your code name?"

"... how about 'I hate Naruto'?"

"She is the 'Lotus Flower'!"

"No, Youthful, i think she should be... 'Bubble-Gum'!"

"Naruto... i'm going to kill you."

"My code name is Ramen!"

"Fine! I'll be Lavendar, then!"

"hmm... why Lavendar?"

_

* * *

_Sakura wondered around with no purpose at all, lost in her thoughts and... well, disturbed by Naruto's childish behaviour. _He's sixteen already... for Kami's sake, he's acting like a six years old!_

"Hello, Sakura."

Sakura yipped, jumping back and taking out a kunai. She found Fantasy standing in front of her.

"Lavendar! Lavendar! come in! this is Ramen!"

"Lavendar! can you hear us? this is Youthful."

Fantasy's eyes twitched... _Ramen? Youthful? Oh Kami... I hope my Neji-kun's name isn't so stupid..._

"It's Fantasy!" Sakura shouted to the Bleeper.

"Alright, Ramen, Youthful and Fate, coming to your rescue!"

Before Naruto finished, Sakura dropped the bleeper under the sudden killing intent Fantasy sent._  
_

Fantasy smiled, "pathetic," She said, "people like you will only bring trouble to your team. You don't even deserve to be a ninja," She stared at Sakura, "you are worthless…" _and what is up with the names... don't tell me 'Fate' is supposed to be my Neji-kun... he should be 'Knight'!_

Sakura didn't know what to do. She was frozen in fear.

Fantasy sneered, and took a step closer. She crushed the bleeper which Sakura dropped. She was getting a bit frustrated.

* * *

"Lavendar!" Lee heard the buzzing in his bleeper.

* * *

"Lavendar!" Naruto started to run towards Sakura's direction.

* * *

_Sakura? _Neji frowned, _is she in trouble?_ He activated his Byakugan.

* * *

The Kunoichi suddenly remembered Fantasy's special ability. She tried to look away, but it was too late. Sakura lost control of her own body, she couldn't think of any ideas… she just stood there, her mind screamed as Fantasy moved closer to her and took the kunai out of her hand. Her body did nothing; she couldn't even move her own lips to say anything. Fantasy held up the kunai and ran its side along Sakura's face. 

"Now, let's ruin this pretty face of yours…" Fantasy murmured… "I hate beautiful girls…"

Sakura wanted to close her eyes, but it was useless effort.

"No wait, let's stab those disgusting green eyes of yours," Fantasy laughed in an insane tone, "They are too ugly… I hate green… I should dig them out and keep them for myself…" she brought the kunai in front of Sakura's eyes…

-Cling!-

Another kunai flung past, flicking Fantasy's one out of the way. Fantasy turned and saw Neji, panting as he threw a few more kunai.

"Damn…" Fantasy cursed under her breath. She tried to escape, but Neji was too fast.

All Fantasy did was run, barely missing Neji's attacks. She seemed horrified. Fantasy's mind raced, trying to figure out a way to flee.

_Why didn't she put a mind control on Neji?_ Sakura wondered. She felt relieved that Neji had come to her rescue. _Maybe he's my knight-in-shining-armour_, she mentally chuckled. Then terrified at her own thought…_ I didn't just think…_ she tried to shake her head, and then remembered that she couldn't move. She didn't really need to move, because she felt safe. Knowing Neji is there made her feel protected. She knew no harm could come to her, as long as Neji is there… _he's strong… _she watched. **AND hot...**

_SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!_

**I'm just stating the obvious... **

_I don't want to love some random guy whom i HARDLY know just because he's... umm... _

**hot and muscular, strong and cute?! **

_ye...I mean, NO! He's smart... I want to love someone for his intelligence and personality..._

**Oh and that's why you love Sasuke? pft...**

_Well... Sasuke-Kun is... smart... and... well, he's cool..._

**So is Neji...**

_Stop confusing me!_

Neji's hair danced around as he made his attacks. The long, dark hair made Sakura wanted to touch it, and fondle with it. _It must be soft…_ her eyes drifted around, taking in every detail of Neji. Inner Sakura sighed.

* * *

Neji was wondering why Fantasy wasn't using the mind-control, too. In fact, he was wondering why Fantasy wasn't using ANY justu at all. 

"You are too cute, so I don't want to hurt you." Fantasy flirted, trying to distract him.

It didn't work on the Hyuuga genius. He didn't say anything. His next move will finish her off.

"Ne...Neji…" Sakura walked towards him.

"Sakura?"

Sakura was in his way.

"Move out of the way, Sakura." Neji's expression didn't change, but inside, he was a bit angry.

Sakura didn't listen, she continued to stare at him dreamingly, and then she threw herself at him.

Time seemed to freeze.

Lee and Naruto arrived to see Sakura and Neji locked together in a kiss. They gaped.

* * *

Next chapter 

What is love?

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	7. Encountering Him

This used to be three chapters, but I've combined them...

Me: now, new chapter! Time to reveal Fantasy's weaknesses!

Fantasy: it's Neji… honestly… he IS my weakness –swoons-. He's so cute…

* * *

Chapter 7 

Encountering Him

* * *

Neji blushed. His mind was suddenly filled with thousands of thoughts and feelings at once. 

…

But on the other hand, Sakura's mind simply went blank, and much to her relief, inner sakura was gone; she could feel his lips pressing against her own. Her eyes were closed, but she could sense Neji's surprising and panicking gaze.

Naruto and Lee were crying again, hugged together while comforting each other.

_What am I doing!_ Neji finally got a hold of himself. He shook his head and gently pushed Sakura.

It didn't work. Sakura hugged him even tighter.

"Hma---hmmmu---hrma---" Neji tried to clear his throat, but it was hard to talk when Sakura was kissing him fiercely.

Sakura opened her eyes, looking at him tenderly.

"Neji…" she murmured. Then she started kissing down his neck, her arms held Neji, as if he was the most important thing in the world to her.

"Uh… Sakura…?" Neji said unsurely.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Naruto finally jumped out, pointing at the two, "NEJI! Have you got no shame?! How can you take advantage of Sakura-Chan like that!"

_She's the one taking advantage of ME!_ Neji thought.

"Sakura, let go or I'll..." Neji warned her.

**He's so nice…** Sakura thought. _**Such a gentle man! **WHAT THE HELL?! HAVE I LOST MY MIND?!_Inner Sakura and normal Sakura fought.

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Neji…" Sakura hid her crimson face in her hands, "I… I don't know what came over me…" 

"ah! So that was mind control…" Naruto felt a lot more relaxed._ Good, so it wasn't Sakura's own will to kiss that damn Neji…_

_It felt really good…_ Sakura blushed even harder if it was even possible, _I guess… I never wanted to fight against that mind control…_

* * *

Sakura couldn't sleep that night. How could she possibly sleep after what happened today?! 

_Neji must've thought that I'm a slut… _

**But he acted normal after all these…**

_He's really good at hiding his emotions… _

** Don't worry about it!**

_What should I do? _

**We love Neji…**

_But what about Sasuke-kun?! _

Sakura and Inner Sakura had become closer recently after the kiss.

**Just trust what your heart tells you. **

_I wonder… is this really… love? _

**Don't ask me. **

_I wonder how he feels about me… hmm... you've stopped forcing me to agree that we love Neji... why the sudden change?_

**Well, I've just realised... you are me, I am you... I shouldn't decide for both of us like that. I guess I snapped earlier because I felt... great attraction towards him... maybe we've met before?**

_Your temper is a lot better now._

Both Sakura minds smiled.

_Friends?_

**_Friends._**

* * *

On the other side of their tent, Neji was thinking completely different things. _Why didn't Fantasy use mind control against me? Why did she make Sakura kiss me? Ever since the start of this mission we were all caught up in this whole "love" business… what is the meaning of this… could this all be Fantasy's doing? And my dreams are getting worse... It seems that I'm getting it even more often now..._ Neji rubbed his temples._

* * *

_"Lee..." 

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I kind of like the whole code name thing..."

"me, too!"

"so... Youthful..." Naruto grinned.

They stole the bleepers off Neji.

* * *

Team Dragonslayers wondered through the forest aimlessly trying to find Fantasy... 

"Hello," a man appeared them and sneered, "Kyuubi…"

The Konoha ninjas frowned.

The shark-looking man widened his shark like smile, taking a step closer.

_Could he be… _Sakura bit her lip.

All of the ninjas in Konoha were taught about this dangerous association --- the Akatsuki. Most of them learnt the great abilities those S-rank criminals possessed. And it seemed, that the man standing in front of them was the one and only… Kisame Hoshigaki!

Kisame gripped his Samehada and swung it towards the Konoha ninjas.

"Katon --- Ryuka no Justu!"

_Huh?! Sa…Sasuke?_ Naruto's heart skipped a beat as he heard the name of this familiar justu.

"Suiton --- Suiryudan no Jutsu!" Kisame dodged the fire.

The water dragon roared through the fire. But there was no one there…

"what?!" Kisame turned. _This opponent is quite strong… and VERY fast. _

"Suiton --- Suigadan!"

_Impossible! This person is using water technique right after a fire one?!_ Kisame formed some hand seals, "Suiton, Goshokuzame!"

"shihohappo Shuriken!"

Thousands of shuriken were shot at Kisame at once, combined with a strange technique, which he could not recognise.

"Show yourself!" Kisame was getting very angry. One of the shuriken scratched his leg. He drew his Samehada closer to himself and was prepared to strike. He couldn't sense this enemy's chakra… _too fast… who is this… _

A girl abruptly stood before him, smirking.

"You little…" before Kisame could attack Fantasy, she already had him under the mind control.

"Fantasy?" Naruto exclaimed, "Why are you here?!"

"I miss my little boyfriend," Fantasy laughed, fluttering her eyelashes at Neji, "besides, no one should interrupt our little mission… you are MINE."

"Huh?" Naruto stared at her.

**She fluttered her eyelashes at Neji!!!!!!!! **_Calm down...  
_

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, sending leaves spiralling… in the middle of those fallen leaves stood a man with the same black coat as Kisame wore. He looked up, dark eyes shot a strand of fear down Fantasy's spine

_That's… Uchiha… Itachi…_ Naruto froze. Looking into the familiar black eyes that reminded him of Sasuke's.

"Tsk…" Fantasy ignored Itachi's amazingly grand and wondrous plus marvellous entrance… (AN: ITACHI FOREVER!!! HE'S DA COOLEST CHARACTER IN NARUTO!)

"What's your name." Itachi asked stoically. _To defeat Kisame like this… she can be very useful for Akatsuki…  
_

"Fantasy…" She answered, "Who are you?"

"Uchiha… Itachi…"

_UCHIHA?!!! _Fantasy's eyes widened, "a sharingan user?" she asked weakly.

"Hn…" Itachi's eyes glowed, displaying his sharingan.

Fantasy made Kisame threw himself at Itachi, then desperately started fleeing.

But Itachi was definitely not Neji, this little trick would never stop him.

Itachi stood in front of her._ Has her speed decreased? I thought she was much faster than this… _

_Damn…_ She cursed.

"I'm not with them… I... I was just passing by..." Fantasy pointed at the four Konoha ninjas who had been watching the battle, "Just leave me alone…"

"what did you do to Kisame?" Itachi asked coldly. Not that he cared about Kisame, but that shark-guy was his partner.

"It's my bloodline limit… Mind control." Fantasy murmured.

"Why are you running away?"_ judging from the way she fought with Kisame, she is strong… then why is she so terrified?_

"I…" she shifted uneasily. Itachi glared at her.

"Because…" she tried to avoid Itachi's gaze,"Because I can't attack Dojutsu (eye technique) users…" she whispered.

"Why not?" Itachi was a bit surprised, though he didn't show it.

"My Justus will be cancelled if I attack them…" she answered unwillingly, obviously afraid of Itachi.

"Hn…"

"Hah! Told you Neji's her weakness!"

Naruto really chose the wrong time to say such things. Itachi apathetically glimpsed him. Sakura knocked Naruto very hard on the head. **Baka Naruto!**

"Go. I have no intention in killing you." Itachi told Fantasy.

Fantasy was astonished. _He's letting me go just like this? Wow, he way nicer than he looks!_ But she was also curious about what Itachi want with Team Dragonslayers.

"Are you going to kill them?"

"Maybe." Itachi didn't want to talk much, so he started forming a hand seal.

"Wait…" Fantasy glanced at Neji, "I still have control over our friend…"

"Hn?" Itachi raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So please let them go… in exchange, I'll free your friend."

Itachi considered her words. He never thought he'd encounter the Kyuubi in the forest of Azrael, so they weren't planning to capture him from the start. _This girl is interesting… _Itachi turned; he saw Kisame drooling. He sighed, "fine." _She can easily kill Kisame, and without him, I may not be able to defeat the Kyuubi and this girl easily, her power is strange… it seems that though her mind control doesn't work on me, Sharingan doesn't work on her, neither…_

* * *

"Why did you save us?" Lee asked as the two Akatsuki disappeared from their sight. 

"I told you, I like him." She walked in front of Neji, "in exchange, I want a kiss!"

Neji was horrified. Sakura felt anger arose within her, _this girl… **ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! **_Inner Sakura and Normal Sakura shouted together.

Fantasy stepped closer. Neji moved back a few paces.

"Come on… Neji------------- KUN!" she emphasised the "Kun".

"Uh…"

"Fine then. If you refuse, then I won't go with you to Yamabuki."

"…" The Konoha ninjas sighed together.

"Come and find me if you can! I'll only go with you if you defeat me!" she laughed as she skipped off.

"Well, that was simple…Who knew her weakness is so obvious. I guess now we can defeat her EASILY!"

The four of them now felt a lot more relaxed.

* * *

"Strange bloodline limit…" Kisame glanced at Itachi. 

"It's called 'Demon eyes'."

"Huh? How did you…"

"I wasn't sure until I saw the gleam in her eyes when she released the justu on you."

"…I've never heard of it…"

"This Dojutsu bloodline had extinct for over hundreds of years… I'm glad we didn't fight her…"

"But she said she can't…" Kisame was shocked to hear Itachi saying such words.

"There are different levels of 'Demon eyes' just like the Sharingan… to be more precise, the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan are both branch families of her clan…"

"Branch families?!" Kisame inwardly didn't believe that the little girl would possess such power.

"yes. So the evolved Demon eye is…" Itachi paused, trying to think of a suitable word, "almost invincible."

"I wonder if the Konoha ninjas know about this." Kisame smiled. Maybe _the girl will defeat the Kyuubi then we can just capture both of them easily…_

"There IS a way…" Itachi looked back at the dark forest, "they'd need a Dojutsu user, an extremely strong and fast taijutsu fighter and someone with huge chakra capacity… then they may have a chance to defeat the girl…"

* * *

Back in the forest, Neji, Lee and Naruto sneezed.

* * *

Next chapter 

A Good-bye

Oh by the way, the whole Demon eyes thing is completely made up… there's no such bloodline limit, lol.

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	8. A goodbye and a promise

Me: It's nearly the end…

Fantasy: hell ya, I'm gonna beat up that Sakura bi-----

Me: No swearing, Fantasy!

Fantasy: ARGHHHH!

Me: well, enjoy this chapter, everyone!

Fantasy: hey wait… will I end up with Neji?

Me: uh… as i said, there's possible sasuXsaku, nejiXten, or even sasuXnaru! Ah, the yaoiness… it really depends on what everyone want. Right now, most demands nejiXsaku.

Fantasy: ALRIGHT! I request a nejiXfan, please! –Evil laugh-

Me: … uh, no.

* * *

Chapter 8 

A Good-bye and a Promise

* * *

Fantasy was stunned. She felt blood, running down her arms, legs… she was definitely very surprised. There was a strange feeling in her stomach…_ pain… _her lips parted, blood dripped from her mouth, trickling on the ground. 

_I__m… possible…_ she looked up, Neji stood in front of her. Pale eyes emotionless; the eyes she loved so much…

"It's over."

Fantasy watched those words coming from him. Her body twitched from the pain.

"…Can't you see? Why… WHY CAN'T YOU SEE?!" she cried, bursting into tears, "I love you…" she turned, Neji could see her frail shoulder going up and down gently with the rhythm of her sobbing.

"you are the one who don't understand." He said blandly.

"NO!!!" she shouted through her tears, "you still don't get it, do you?!" she smiled bitterly, "this is all just a game…" her tears dissolved in the blood, her eyes no longer had the brightness in them.

"a game?" Neji sneered, "You were hurting my friends." He said coldly, beside him was Sakura's unconscious body.

Fantasy's smile froze. She stopped crying. The beseeching look on her face was gone. Her expression was also cold, enough to match his. "Your friends?" she asked quietly.

He spoke, "yes." he pointed to his teammates, who were lying on the ground around him.

"I couldn't control my own power..." Fantasy paused, "but this was a game since the start of your mission." She stared at Neji, "yet after I met you, it turned into something more complicated than the simple game I planned in the beginning…" she looked up. She didn't want to explain everything. She was too tired to do that, and there was no point in doing it. Her tears were still wet on her face, glittering under the faint sunshine that sieved through the dark leaves of the forest.

She left. Leaving Neji standing there. He pondered her words.

"Your mission is complete." Her faint voice echoed around him.

Neji collapsed beside Sakura. He was exhausted. His eyes slowly closed…

* * *

_**Flashback**_

"WHAT?!" Fantasy screamed as Lee punched her on the side. It sent her flying in the air, falling through the trees.

Lee took this chance to crash her onto the ground.

_This is not good… my speed is decreasing because of Neji's Dojutsu clashing with my own… my Justus aren't even half as powerful! And they are both such strong taijutsu fighters…_ Fantasy's mind shrieked from the pain. Taijutsu was her absolute weakness…_ I can't die… no...  
_

Black fire glowed around her, the powerful chakra reflected Lee's final attack.

"what is that?!"

her eyes were not blue anymore. They were dark…

"NARUTO!" Lee shouted.

Her chakra swept Naruto along the ground…

_My eyes…_ Fantasy's head ached, but she lost control of her own body… _it's… evolving?_ She was bruised by Lee's attacks, but now her own chakra was healing her…

"Lee!" Sakura ran to Lee's side and immediately started healing Lee.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto's nine tail power was activated… his eyes turned red, he was healing even faster than Fantasy.

_Damn…if that pink haired bitch keeps healing them like this, I won't have enough… _"Ack..." she spat out a puddle of blood… she didn't see Naruto coming up behind her. actually, she never thought Naruto would even be able to stand up after she had knocked him around like that.

_**end flashback**_

* * *

Fantasy leaned against a tree. 

_This is not good… I don't have any chakra left… what was with that blond guy. His chakra…_ she coughed out more blood…_ my body… is… heavy… I… how did I lose?_

"Neji Hyuuga…" she treasured the sound as she pronounced every syllable carefully. "good-bye…"

_maybe, one day… we'll meet again... _she thought as she fell onto the ground.

-...

* * *

Sakura woke up to find Neji by her side, trying his best to attend her injuries. 

She giggled, "you are doing it wrong." Then she showed him how to mix the medicines properly.

Though Neji is a genius ninja in fighting, he had a few flaws… one, he had absolutely no sense of direction; two, he was terrible with healing and medicines… these kind of things… and three, he loves flowers… yes, beautiful flower gardens especially lavenders. But of course, no one knew these secrets.

"There." Sakura smiled to him.

He looked at her, remembering how Sakura risked her life trying to heal the three of them in the battle.

She carefully rubbed the medicine on Neji's wounds.

"Uh… I was… going… uh, it's… hmm… for your wounds…" Neji stuttered on his words when Sakura leaned towards him. He blushed.

_He looks so CUTE when he blushes!_ Sakura felt an urge of wanting o kiss him.

She got up._ I need some fresh air… I must control this feeling…_ then she felt dizzy, after staggering a few steps, she fell. Neji caught her in his arms.

"You still haven't recovered yet, Sakura."

He was right, she couldn't feel any chakra within her body.

"You drained your power during the fight, stop exhausting yourself." He told her in a soft voice that made her heart melt.

_He's… worried about me?_

* * *

"Neji…" She sat next to him, in front of the fire. 

He looked up, waiting for her to continue.

She hesitated.

It was quite late. Lee and Naruto were still unconscious in the tent. Sakura and Neji sat outside.

He knew what she wanted to say. She knew his feelings, too. But they were both too shy to show it. Well, at least Neji still wouldn't admit it while Sakura was the one who made all the moves.

_I like her? No… why would I like her… i… love her? Okay… that just sounded wrong… I am Hyuuga Neji… I DON'T love. For heavens sake… what happened to me?! But her hair… it's so… cute… and she's very smart… really pretty, too…_

Before he knew it, Sakura gave him a little peck on the lips.

She smiled at his astonished look; then she snuggled into his arms.

"I love you…" she whispered.

He didn't say anything. He finally gave up arguing with his own feelings, and gave up the whole "I-must-keep-my-Neji-dignity" and "love-will-make-me-weak" thoughts. He liked it when Sakura kissed him… he liked it when Sakura snuggled against him… he liked everything about Sakura. He was sure that they were soul mates if such thing exists.

Neji never believed love in first sight. Even though he thought it was strange that he felt so attracted to Sakura when he only knew her for a short time, somewhere in his mind, he said to himself… _we've met before… perhaps in our previous lives?_ He hugged her tighter.

They stayed like this for a long time.

"Sakura…" Neji kissed her. (AN: wow, he made his FIRST move! Clap for Neji!)Then he asked, "what were your dreaming that night when you woke up shouting 'No, Neji, don't'?"

Sakura tilted her head slightly to look at Neji, putting a finger on her lip where Neji just kissed, she answered, "you were leaving me…"

Neji saw a flick of worry and sadness in her eyes as she said that.

_I want to be with him forever… I want to be with him so that my everyday can be filled with happiness, and beautiful memories… of him._ Sakura yawned, struggling to keep her eyes open in Neji's warm embrace.

"I promise… I won't leave you." Neji told her as she drifted off into sleep. _Why is everything happening so fast?_ "I guess, this is just our fate..." he murmured.

* * *

"so... why do you like me?" Sakura teased Neji. 

"you are strong... and intelligent." Neji answered without hesitation, the response surprised Sakura.

"thank you..." she blushed.

"so why do you like me?"

"same reasons..."

-...

"I kind of feel sorry about Fantasy..."

"..."

"I mean... after all, she saved us from the Akatsukis."

"yes..."

"what happened to her?"

"I don't know... she just told me our mission is over."

-...

"so you weren't born in Konoha?"

"I was born in a small villiage."

"where?"

"country of lake."

"it suits you." Neji buried his face in Sakura's hair... he had expected it to smell like strawberry, but to his surprise... it smelt like lavendars.

"what do you mean?"

"talking with you is soothing... like a lake. and your eyes..."

"what about it?"

-...

"why do you like lavendars?"

Sakura just smiled... she didn't want to answer this question... it'd bring her pain to talk about this hobby...

* * *

Next chapter 

Love Rivals

(this AN is long because it's all three chapters' AN add together...)

Fantasy: what the heck?!

Me: what's wrong?

Fantasy: YOU!!!!! You!!! You!!!!!!

Me: me what? Heh heh…

Fantasy: ... DEMON EYES!!!!!!!!!! -punch punch, kick kich... mind control... scratch...-

a few hours later

-In a certain hospital-

Due to severe injuries from Fantasy's powerful jutsus and weird techniques, I won't be able to update this story for quite some time… ouch…

Me: MUAHAHAH! I was joking!! Hah! GOTCHA! (everyone: well that was lame...) Fantasy's little trick could NEVER hurt me! For I, am the ultimate ninja of everything! One tap on the keyboard, you'd all be powerless!

Fantasy: … you and your "author's-authority-and-power" talk again…

Me: yep!

Fantasy: -sob- will I come into the story again?

Me: you are supposed to be dead!

Fantasy: … WAHHHHHHHHH! –cries more-

Me: but come on... look at neji and sakura... The cuteness… awwwwww

Ran: what happened to Fantasy?

Me: She died, remember?

Ran: what?! Just like that?! you serious?! You make all your made-up characters die? –starts to run away-

Me: muahah! Come back, Ran-Chan! You still haven't appeared in the story yet! –chases after her-

* * *

-End of chapter-   



	9. Love Rivals!

Ran: Nah- ah! I will NOT come back! I will NEVER appear in your stupid story! I'm way too young to die!

Me: come on, Ran-Chan!

Ran: NO!

Me: uh… how about I'll let you meet THE Konoha hot guy, Sasuke?

Ran: hmm… well… would you let me kiss him?

Me: no.

Ran: then I won't come into this story!

* * *

Chapter 9 

Love Rivals

* * *

Team DragonSlayers had been away from Konoha for two months already. Things happened so fast between them, but both of them were happy to accept the fact that they are in love. 

Neji and Sakura smiled to each other.

Naruto and Lee still haven't waked up since the battle with Fantasy. It was a very tough fight. Even with the Kyuubi's power, they only barely defeated the girl.

_No wonder it was called 'Demon's eyes',_ Sakura attended Lee's wounds with a worried look, _Fantasy's power was INSANE!_

She remembered how Fantasy's eyes turned into a combination of Mangekyo Sharingan and the activated Byakugan, and her pupils were glowing like red flame… Sakura shivered. When Naruto's chakra clashed with Fantasy's… Sakura shook her head to get rid of the terror that ran down her spine.

* * *

**_Flashback_**

Fantasy and Naruto's chakra both started taking shapes. Naruto's was a fierce nine-tailed fox, while Fantasy's looked like a fusion of vampire and fiend. The figure had long claws resembling its vampire features; long bat-like wings expanded as her chakra capacity suddenly grew rapidly. It was impossible to describe the monster in words; it was terrifying… the only word Sakura could think of, was Demonic.

Both Naruto and Fantasy lost control of their own minds. The two chakras only BRUSHED against each other, then half of the forest was destroyed.

_Oh no… what'll happen when they seriously START to fight? We'd all be dead!_ Sakura panicked. But fear stopped her from moving.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted. This was like the fight he had with Sasuke five years ago, only that Naruto had improved even more during these years.

"SOUL- PERISH!" Fantasy formed a very simple hand seal. A sword burning with black fire appeared. She swung it down, piercing it through the ground beneath her.

…

Everything disappeared. The world was black.

The two powerful chakras roared.

Sakura and Lee felt both of their strengths were drained at once. Neji blinked, finding himself stood in the middle of his three unconscious teammates.

Blood trickled down Naruto's mouth. It seemed that this clash of chakras was so powerful that it didn't affect their surrounding at all. The ground didn't even shudder.

_**End flashback**_

* * *

"Sakura?" Neji asked. _Are you all right?_

She smiled. _I'm fine._

They understood each other well. There was no need for words between the two of them.

"NEJI!" Lee suddenly sat up and shouted. Sakura jumped, but Neji simply sighed.

"I see you are getting better." Neji's face returned to its usual serious expression.

"Hmm…" Lee looked at Sakura, then Neji, then back to Sakura…

"Would you stop doing that?!" Neji growled.

"how long have I being sleeping?"

"four days."

* * *

"Naruto, Lee…" 

"Yes, Sakura-Chan?" both of the injured boys turned their full attention to this pink-haired girl who they loved.

"I'm glad you two are feeling a lot better."

"Thank you, Sakura-Chan, for worrying about us!" tears filled the two's eyes.

"uh… your welcome?" Sakura backed away two steps from them, "anyway…" she cleared her throat, "I was going to tell you… I'm Neji's girlfriend now."

…

silence…

for only five seconds…

"WHATTTTTTTTTT?!"

* * *

"Kakashi, was that Naruto again?"

* * *

"I love him." 

Naruto's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

Lee was slow at understanding new information. _Sakura… my lotus blossom… and… Neji?!_ _'I-don't-like-her' was what he told me…_ Neji's voice echoed through Lee's head. Suddenly, he felt anger rose within him. _HOW COULD HE, teasing Sakura-Chan like this?! If he doesn't like Sakura, he doesn't deserve to even be near her!_

-PUNCH!-

Neji dodged it… barely. If it weren't for that Lee haven't fully recovered, Neji would've died for sure…

"What are you do--------"

-KICK!-

As the 'beautiful green beast of Konoha' as he liked to call himself, his kicks are… pretty powerful.

But! Neji was, after, the famous genius. He dodged it again.

"Lee!" Sakura tackled Lee.

Her long, soft pink hair brushed against his face… they were close…

Neji watched.

"Lee… let go of my girlfriend."

Sakura kind of hoped that Neji would be jealoused. Which, unfortunately, didn't happen. Neji would never be jealous of his bowl-haircut teammate, after all, he was VERY confident that Sakura will choose him other than the green-spendax-wearer.

And so, the trip back to Konoha begins! With a lot of fighting… as Naruto and Lee ganged up together to 'rescue' Sakura from Neji, the 'terrible-husband-who-beat-up-Sakura-in-her-dreams'.

* * *

It was Naruto's plan. Lee will attack Neji during the day while Naruto distract Sakura. During the night, Naruto will steal all of Neji's belongings to embarrass himself in front of Sakura. 

The plan didn't work well. Since their 'enemy' had 360 degrees vision and can see through trees, so he saw them coming before they could even start. Besides, the following IQ equation shows the flaw in Naruto's plan…

Naruto's IQ **times** ten **plus** Lee's IQ** times** eight _equals_ Sakura's IQ **plus** half of Neji's IQ

* * *

"alright, Youthful, are you ready?" 

"yes, Ramen..."

"tell me your location."

"225x,328y."

"ready to strike?"

"more than ready."

"okay... NOW!"

Lee tried to tackle Neji from the bushes. Neji didn't even look at him, he tilted a bit to the side, and Lee went flying past him.

"Ramen... we need plan B..."

"Fate had moved to 332x,162y..."

"where's that?"

"next to Lavendar..." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

* * *

Next chapter 

Sakura

Me: alright-alright, I'll let you kiss Sasuke.

Ran: YAY! Promise you won't let me die!

Me: well, you DO realize that either Sakura or Ino will kill you…

Ran: no way!

Me: fine, fine… just do whatever you want.

PS: the reason for why I made Fantasy so strong is because then it shows that Itachi was not a coward or anything like that. He was smart not to fight a girl like that! And no, he didn't run away. He made an agreement with Fantasy, remember?

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	10. Pov

This is Sakura and Neji's thoughts. Filler episode! Lol. I have fillers so that things don't happen so fast... Think of this fanfic as an anime please.

* * *

Chapter 10 

POVs

* * *

Sakura's Pov. 

_Naruto and Lee are so annoying! Why can't they just leave me alone?! Every time when Neji and I are finally alone, they HAD to interrupt, ARGH! And all those stupid plans they planned…_** it's pathetic!**_ I bet Naruto came up with those…_

_We should be able to get back to Konoha in approximately two weeks. I wish it could take longer though. Spending time with Neji is great. Today we just went past a little town and bought supplies…_

* * *

_This is very disturbing. I'm having that strange dream again. Neji repeated his promise to me; he tried to comfort me. It was very helpful. he's so kind and thoughtful!__… but still, I can't seem to get those images out of my head!_

_Talk about Neji, He is such a nice guy… I remember when I first saw him; he seemed cold and serious. But now, I know he is not like that… he is extremely responsible, smart, kind… not enough good words can describe him…_

_Whenever there's a mission, Neji was always the leader, the one to clean up the mess… especially missions with Naruto and Lee. He is kind of a perfectionist. When I asked Neji why he was so serious about these kinds of things, he just smiled._

_I guess… because of his 'responsible-ness', I always trust him so much… I feel safe whenever he is around…_

* * *

_Wait… what's Naruto doing now?_

_Oh great… he just slipped a spider in Neji's soup, AGAIN!_** Argh, he is so annoying!**

"NARUTO! Stop that!"

**Baka Naruto**_… where was I? Oh yeah. Neji is very smart… I'd hate to be around stupid people like…_

"Lee?! What are you doing?!"

"Sakura-Chan! Please, give me a chance! I promise I'll protect you until the day I die!"

"uh… no."

"but I love you!"

"Why?!"

"um… I like your eyes?"

**that sounded like a question!**_ But still… my eyes… hmmm… Neji said the same thing to me the other day. Except, Neji sounded a lot more confident._

"why?"

"it's a very youthful colour!!!"

_And Neji** never** said anything lame like that. Neji told me something like this… 'your eyes shines like a pulchritudinous jade, magnificent like flamboyance, yet with calmness of a beautiful pond of water… unpredictable… clear… in the wild, dancing like the spirits of water, stealing my heart…' I can't remember his exact words… but who knew Neji can be so romantic?_

_Oh, I love everything about Neji… he is perfect… I wish I can tell him how much I love him… but then again… it's unnecessary. **He knows.**_

* * *

Neji's Pov.

_I love Sakura. She is the smartest girl I know. I don't like women who can't think or defend themselves at all, especially ones who try to act defenceless and innocent, hoping a guy can save them and fall in love to their stupid-ness. They are weak._

_Tenten and Sakura are the only girls I acknowledge. But they are different. Tenten is only a comrade; she is strong, but she lack to gentleness, which Sakura possesses. Sakura is more flexible than Tenten; she knows when to be tough, and when to act soft, girly… Sakura is a very intelligent girl…_

"NEJI!!!!!!"

"What do you want."

"THERE'S A SNAKE BEHIND YOU!"

"That's because you put it there."_ Naruto always shout around people… it's making me deaf._

"IT'S ATTACKING YOU!" _Naruto ignored my previous comment. But I know Lee and him are still mad that I'm now Sakura's boyfriend, so they came up with lots of 'plans'._

"It's dead."

"It is?"

_Naruto isn't very bright…_

"OW!!!!!!!!! NEJI!"

"What."

"YOU TRICKED ME! It's not dead!"

"Now it is."

"That's because **I** killed it!"

_Exactly. _

_Oh well. There's no point arguing with Naruto._

* * *

_Though I don't show it, but I know, I love Sakura more than my own life.

* * *

_

"Youthful, Youthful... this is Ramen."

"Coming in... where are you, Ramen?"

"Please find Lavendar... I just got bitten by a snake... and i think it's poisso-----" Naruto fainted.

"Ramen?! Ramen?!" Lee panicked.

_What are these two idiots up to now?_ Sakura and Neji sighed at the same time... for the fifty-sixth time this day.

* * *

Next chapter 

Return

PS: I tried my best to use big words to show how impressive and smart Neji sounds when he described Sakura's eyes… but my vocabulary is really limited… -sigh-

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	11. Return

Fillers are over! Back to serious business! The most important chapter of story, coming up… **RETURN**!

* * *

Chapter 11 

Return

* * *

After two weeks of travelling with their super annoying team-mates, Neji and Sakura's undying love finally convinced Naruto and Lee that they are REALLY in love… so in the end, they had an agreement, agreeing to leave the two little love-birds alone for three months. The "contract" looked like this: 

_Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee will observe Hyuuga Neji for three months. In these three months, Neji must: _

_1. __Protect the beautiful lotus blossom from any harm even if it costs his own life! _

_2. __Eat ramen with Sakura!! _

_3. __Do whatever Sakura tells him to do! _

_4. __Never call Naruto an idiot. _

_5. __Hey! Naruto, stop writing down stupid ones! _

_6. __Ramen is cool! _

_7. __What else? _

_8. __I know I know! They have to help Naruto and Lee finding their love, too! _

_9. __… I only love Sakura-Chan! _

_10. __Well… all right, cross number eight out then. _

_11. __You BAKAS! This is enough! Give it to me!!!!!!!!!!! _

_12. __ Sakura-Chan is so scary when she's angry… _

_Signed: Naruto and Lee _

Neji sighed as he read the "contract"._ I just hope there are no more Sakura lovers… all Sakura lovers are so… crazy._

* * *

When Team DragonSlayers finally arrived Konoha, Naruto nearly screamed with excitement, forgetting everything else, including his precious Sakura-Chan (for only about two minutes). He had been thinking about that one certain ninja for so many times during this mission. Now that boy was standing right in front of his eyes… a smirk that was so familiar yet friendly… 

Uchiha Sasuke was leaning against the gate of Konoha.

"Yo, Dobe."

... there was a little pause.

"Sasuke you bastard!" Naruto happily shouted with a twinkle of tear in his eyes. He gave Sasuke a nudge; Sasuke rubbed Naruto's head with his fist. Kakashi smiled, watching the two best friends.

"Sa… Sasuke-Kun?" Sakura still couldn't believe her own eyes…_ Sasuke-Kun has returned? _

Neji walked on, Sakura looked at Neji's back in a confused face, _Neji?_

_...I wonder if she is still a Sasuke-fan-girl like she was five years ago… _Neji's expression didn't change,Everyone in Konoha knew how much Sakura loved Sasuke… in fact, before the mission, Sakura still thought of Sasuke every night and cried in her sleep for not able to convince Sasuke to stay. He was hoping that Sakura won't leave him because of Sasuke's return. _But if she loves him, then it is still her choice, I shouldn't stand in her way._

"Welcome back, Uchiha." Neji murmured monotonously as he walked pass Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded, then turned to Sakura. He expected Sakura to jump onto him. Kakashi told him how hurt Sakura was, and all the rookie nines had sad stories of how Sakura searched for him, wanting to become stronger just for him, and of course, how she pretended that she don't care any more so Naruto won't get worried…

To Sasuke's surprise, Sakura didn't move a muscle. She just stood there… there was no flirting like when they were twelve years old, Sakura was simply repeating to herself, "Sasuke-kun is back?"

Sasuke smiled. He stared into Sakura's emerald green eyes, they were so clear… _she is more beautiful than I imagined…_

"LET'S GO AND HAVE SOME RAMEN!" Naruto shouted, dragging both Sasuke and Sakura along, "Lee, are you coming, too?!"

Sakura suddenly realised that Neji had already gone home.

Lee laughed, "sure!"

* * *

They talked for quite a while, laughing at old memories, asking each other what they had being up to in the previous years… Sasuke had changed. He didn't want to kill Itachi any more; he finally understood what Kakashi meant five years ago… 

"Sakura?" Sasuke looked at her, "you've been a bit quiet… what's wrong?" _  
_

But, Sakura just smiled at Sasuke's question, "This is so unexpected…"though inside, she was screaming. _What should I do?! Sasuke is back and he is showing interest in me! But I'm Neji's girlfriend… oh Kami, what should I do?! _

Sasuke laughed lightly, seeing Sakura so cutely twisted her fingers… a strand of her pink lock brushed over her face. _She is beautiful…  
_

During their entire meeting, Sasuke had being staring at Sakura with a passion that he didn't even try to hide. He studied her intently, smiled at her little movements such as biting her lower lip, shifting in her seat… he couldn't help the thought of wanting to kiss her._ Do you really think you mean nothing to mean in all those past years? Do you really think that i don't care about you at all? Then why, why are you the only one who can stop my curse seal from spreading with just a little hug... why, why are you the only one who can make my heart cry as I left Konoha... why, why are you the only one who made me understand the word, love... you mean more to me than you think, Sakura...chan._

Sakura can sense Sasuke's gaze. She turned, not wanting to meet those passionate eyes, those eyes she fell for all those years.

"Sasuke-teme, when did you come back?"

"oh, a week ago." Sasuke answered Naruto, but his eyes never left Sakura.

"hmmm, how did Kakashi-sensei convince you?"Naruto was a bit dissapointed that he wasn't the one who brought Sasuke back.

Sasuke smirked, "I came back because of Sakura."

"REALLY?!" Naruto and Lee both looked at him as if he suddenly turned into a huge polar bear.

"yes."

Sakura was blushing very hard.

"I miss you." Sasuke murmured to Sakura.

_Kami, she's so CUTE when she blushes… what was I thinking, leaving her and ignoring her all those years! I could've had the prettiest girl in Konoha! She's more gorgeous than all of the Sound girls plus together… _while Sasuke was having naughty thoughts of Sakura, Tenten came along. She greeted them with a huge 'Tenten-smile'.

"cool, you guys are back!" Tenten waved her hand, "how was your mission?"

"it was alright… the girl fell in love with Neji…" Naruto tried to remember what happened.

"… A girl fell in love with Neji?" after a little pause, Tenten burst out in laughter, "really? Hah ha, what happened? Did Neji date her?" though she acted like that on the outside, but she was actually thinking, _hmmm, interesting, I'm getting more rivals…_

Sakura remembered how Fantasy loved Neji, and she was very sure that she still hates Fantasy for flirting with HER Neji.

"No…" Lee answered.

Tenten let out a little sigh; _thank Kami… Neji's still single. _

"But Sakura is his girlfriend now…" Lee finished his sentence with nearly a sob.

"WHAT?!" both Sasuke and Tenten were so surprised that they chocked… and coughed… and chocked more… then coughed more…

"Tenten!"

"Sasuke-teme!"

Naruto and Lee rushed to their teammates. Sakura's face was as red as a tomato.

_She looks like a strawberry… _Sasuke managed to keep his gaze on Sakura even when he was coughing. Yes, of course Sasuke will come up with a better simile than the author…

"_**SAKURA IS GOING OUT WITH THAT HYUUGA?!**_" Sasuke had chidori in his hands… _where is that damn Neji?!_

* * *

Next chapter 

Sasuke Vs. Neji! Battle I

* * *

-End of chapter- 

**_My little anonymous-review-replying whiteboard! _**

Um… thank you for your reviews. But unfortunately, some reviews are anonymous, so I can't reply… no matter; I am replying them in this.

1. Thank you,**al2010, UwIllNevERn0, narutogrl93,shadow miko**, and **arubadiamond** for your constant support.-rewards all of you with _a_ lollipop, lol, i'm poor, so i can't afford two lollipops-

2. **Diana**: yes, I have written all of the chapters for this story, but on paper. So sometimes if I can't be bothered turning on the computer and update the story. I still have the story somewhere in my incredibly messy room.

3. **Somebody you don't know**: I'm glad that you like this fanfic better than the other one I wrote… Chapter two: well, some fan-subs translate Neji's technique as "strikes" other than "palms". oh and thanks for the review.

4. **Sasuke's-girl**: thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like the story, lol.

And finally, to all my reviewers: "Return" is an extremely important chapter; therefore I have fillers before it. And besides, I need to make it sound as if the team were gone at least three months.

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	12. Sasuke Vs Neji! Battle I

Muahaha… the fun begins… Sasuke and Neji… who will win Sakura's heart? I'm thinking of a vote: 

Please dial 0123 456789, our hotline; press 1 for Sasuke, 2 for Neji… wait, I don't have a phone… never mind. Anywayz, Sakura can either have:

1. Sasuke

2. Neji

3. Naruto

4. Lee

5. Kakashi?!

6. Kiba

7. Gaara

* * *

Chapter 12 

Sasuke Vs. Neji! Battle I

* * *

_Sakura tried to stop Sasuke from leaving Konoha. But Sasuke didn't listen to her. He turned around, cold eyes emotionless. She wanted to see what he was thinking through those deep eyes, but she could only feel that the world was spinning around her… Sasuke looked serious, in a way that she couldn't understand... he spoke, in a voice so bitter that made her shiver in fear._

_"This is my fate…" his voice faded on the last word. Somehow, he started to change… his raven colored hair grew longer and longer, his eyes became a shade of lavender, though still mysterious… the word "fate" echoed as he changed…_

"_Ne…Neji?" Sakura reached out as Neji turned away, just like the time when Sasuke left Konoha…_

Sakura woke up,_ This dream… again?_

* * *

She washed her face, _I think I understand this dream a bit more now… perhaps… next time, it won't be Sasuke leaving… it'd be Neji? This is so confusing… is this stupid dream trying to tell me something?!_

* * *

"**YOU are Sakura's BOYFRIEND?**" The Uchiha glared at the Hyuuga, he was hissing in a dangerously low voice. 

"Yes." Neji replied calmly.

They both smirked.

Sasuke-_aka_-Uchiha-genius-_aka_-the-youngest-ANBU-member-except-Itachi Vs. Neji-_aka_-Hyuuga-genius-_aka_-ANBU-captain **begins**!

* * *

Sakura walked out from her house, only to see a sexily-posed Sasuke standing in front of her. raven-coloured hair slightly messed up, only made him looking more attractive than he already is. 

"hey."

"Um…hi?" Sakura wasn't sure how to respond.

Sasuke (magically) pulled out a rose, and held it in front of Sakura.

"Whoa… for… me?" Sakura looked around, there was only Sasuke and her… so it must be for her! _So what he said the other day…_ Sakura blushed. _He DID come back for ME! _

Sasuke nodded, smirking as Sakura blushed even harder.

"Thank you…" Sakura said it in a Hinata-ly small voice.

"It's not for free you know."

"Huh?!" Sakura panicked. **Sasuke got even hotter in these years!** Inner Sakura swooned.

"I want a kiss…" Sasuke whispered in her ear so she could feel his hot breath. He leaned in…

they kissed.

Neji saw it.

He saw Sasuke kissing HIS girlfriend.

Neji wanted to ask Sakura if she want to train with her today, but he halted at the end of her stairway.

Sasuke was a great kisser, Sakura decided. His kiss was different from Neji's. Neji kissed her gently, softly, as if she may break if he kissed harder, making her body tingle at the sensation… but Sasuke kissed her with great passion, slamming her on the door, forcing his own tongue into her mouth… she felt that every part of her was set of fire, unable to pull away from him…

Sasuke ended their kiss with a little bite of her lower lip. As he was about to trace the kiss down Sakura's neck, Sakura froze and pushed him away...

In the corner of her eyes, she saw Neji standing there… motionless. For the first time since she became Neji's girlfriend, she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Ne…Neji…" she bit her lip, "I…"_ what have I done?! _Both Sakura minds screamed.

Neji turned away. He walked off as if nothing happened. No, he wasn't jealous of that Uchiha.

But this hurt his pride, his Neji pride…

Sasuke hid his smirk. _Uchiha: 1; Hyuuga: 0._

* * *

"Youthful, Youthful... where are you?" 

"I am observing Fate's movements."

"How is everything going?"

"Fate just walked in the building where Lavendar lives."

"hmmm..."

"wait... he just came out again."

"maybe he forgot something?"

"he looks awful!"

"Ramen, Ramen, are you still there? I just saw Unyouthful walking out of the same building."

"?"

"He must be the one who hurted Fate! I will not forgive him!"

"wait... who's Unyouthful? and... i thought you don't like Fate? why are you standing up for him?"

"oh, Unyouthful is Sasuke. well, Fate is my rival, but I will not forgive anyone who hurt my teammate! Especially when he hurt Fate's feelings!"

"I OBJECT!"

"But I must help my comrade!"

"no, not that! I think we should give Sasuke the code name... Teme!"

"... Unyouthful!"

"Teme!"

"Unyouthful!"

* * *

Next chapter 

A reason

**DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!**

oh and by the way... she can only have the voted person for two years... after that, i might return her to Neji. Since i planned this story to be SakuXNeji... but you never know what i might decide, MUAHAH!

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	13. A reason

I apologize to you all... the second battle between Sasuke and Neji have to be delayed... because someone wants to know a more detailed explanation of why Sasuke returned to Konoha... and so i thought i should put up this chapter a bit earlier than i had planned...

Fantasy: hey guys! did you miss me?!

Ran: woah!!!!!! a zombie! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!

Fantasy: ... huh?

Ran: i thought... you died, didn't you?

Fantasy: uh... who gave you that idea?

Ran: -glares at the author-

Me: heh heh... well, things won't be so interesting if everyone figured out my plot...

Fantasy: -sigh- did you even read the story properly?! my last words were: 'one day… we'll meet again...'

Ran: oh...

* * *

Chapter 13 

A reason

* * *

Sasuke Walked down the familiar yet unfamiliar roads of Konoha... things have changed much over the years...

* * *

**_Flashback _**

"How come you are an ANBU now?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"A week ago, i proved myself worthy to be a member." Sasuke didn't want to explain.

"So you REALLY came back to Konoha because of Sakura?"

"Yes... well, that's the main reason."

"What happened to Orochimaru?"

_**End flashback**_

* * *

Sasuke smirked. Remembering the girl who had taught him a reason to come back... 

_Ran-Chan..._

The raven-haired boy paused. Instinct was telling him something was about to happen.

"Long time no see..." A female's voice rang behind him, "Sasuke-Kun."

Sasuke spun around at the sound of his name... "R...Ran?"

"Chan... Ran-chan! We are friends now, remember?" Ran stuck out her tongue at him playfully.

"Wh...What are YOU doing in Konoha?!"

"I came to visit you, Chicken-head," she teased his hair, "And i want to meet this special girl of yours!"

* * *

_**Flashback**_

Sasuke was the most powerful ninja in the sound village...except Orochimaru. Everyone feared and obeyed him.

He liked all of this, this feeling became so powerful that it overwhelmed him... he felt invincible... until that day.

"You!" He pointed to the little red-head girl, "Open the gate."

"Please."

"?"

"You forgot to say please." the girl told him firmly.

"You little brat! do you know who i am?" Sasuke sneered at the girl.

but this little girl didn't have any fear at all, "I don't care. And if you ever hurt me, you will regret it."

No one talks to Sasuke like this. This is unforgivable!

Sasuke was about to shove a Chidori down the girl's throat, a powerful chakra suddenly emerged out of nowhere and pushed him a few paces away from the little girl.

Sasuke stood in astonishment._ What's going on?_

"Don't. You. Dare. Hurt. My. Friend." a soft, but deadly voice told him.

Sasuke could feel the strong killing intent, he had never felt any killing intent so strong, that it was equal to match Orochimaru's. _don't hurt my friend? hn... this is the kind of thing he used to say._ An image of Naruto standing before him appeared in his head.

Another girl was standing in front of the first one.

"Ran-Chan, are you alright?"

The smaller one nodded, "thank you, Fantasy-Chan... I'm fine."

_Fantasy... I've never heard of this name before... such enormous amount of chakra... _Sasuke stared at that girl.

"Who are you?" Fantasy asked coldly.

"Uchiha... Sasuke."

"A... Sharingan user?" Fantasy looked surprised. She suddenly dragged Ran with her and ran away, leaving Sasuke standing there, dumbfounded.

**_End flashback_**

* * *

From that day, Ran always followed him around... She liked him, a lot. Whenever Sasuke threatened to kill her, she would whine and call Fantasy's name. Sasuke had to stop her, he didn't want to see that scary blue-eyed freaky girl again... but in fact, he never saw that girl again... until... today. 

"Look who's here with me!" Ran laughed, Fantasy appeared beside her.

"Uchiha... Sasuke. nice to see you, again." Fantasy's expression was cold, just like the first time they met.

Sasuke smiled nervously.

"Yo, Sasuke-Teme!" Naruto waved.

"Naruto?"

"AH! so this is the Naruto you often speak of!" Ran shouted excitedly, "HELLO, Naruto-kun!"

The blond saw two girls standing in front of Sasuke... as both of them turned to greet him, he screamed, "FANTASY?!!!"

Fantasy blinked, "Naruto?"

Sasuke gaped. _That dobe knows Fantasy?_

"Uh... What's going on?" Ran asked.

"What are you doing in Konoha?!" Naruto pointed at Fantasy.

"I'm just here to tell your Hokage that your mission is complete."

"You are?" Naruto, Sasuke, and Ran chorused together.

"Yes." Fantasy seemed quite Sasuke-ish cold... a very different person from what Naruto saw weeks before.

* * *

-at the ramen shop- 

"So, Ran-chan, you are telling me you helped Sasuke-teme overcome his hunger for power and turned him back to Konoha?"

"Yep!"

"And you are telling me Sasuke-teme listened to you all the time because he was scared of Fantasy?"

"Yep!"

"..." Naruto digested what Ran told him slowly...

"NARUTO-KUN!"

Naruto jumped, "YOU INTERRUPTED MY THOUGHTS!"

But Lee didn't hear him... His jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw... "Fantasy?"

"WHOA! FANTASY! Everyone knows you!" Ran said hyperly.

_How does everyone know about her?! and how come they are all so surprised to see her? aren't they scared of her at all?_ Sasuke felt very frustrated.

"So why did you come here, Lee?" Naruto hid his snicker when he saw Sasuke's confused face.

"Oh... Neji, Tenten and I are meeting here today... "

A glint of light flashed through Fantasy's eyes as she heard the name Neji... then she saw him... tall, strong... as perfect as she remembered... She stood up, staring at him.

Neji stood still when he saw the girl in front of the ramen stand.

"Ne...Neji..." Fantasy stuttered over his name.

"Fantasy?"

a moment of silence passed between them. tears welled up in Fantasy's eyes.

"NEJI!" she cried, "I was so worried... I thought... I was... I..." she didn't know what to say. for the past weeks, she struggled between life and death... only one person always on her mind... Neji. Alright, maybe not only Neji, but still, she thought of him the most.

"..." Neji didn't know what to say, neither. He never expected Fantasy would still love him like this.

Ran and Sasuke watched Fantasy in shock... they've never seen the 'cold-hearted-killer' behave in such manner... almost like... an innocent girl who have lost her love and finally met the man of her dreams again...

"Uh... can someone explain what's going on?" Ran asked.

Naruto explained everything simply to the two, but himself was more curioused about how Sasuke knew Fantasy.

Sasuke sighed, and told them...

* * *

_**Flashback**_

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS FOLLOW ME WHEREVER I GO?!" Sasuke roared to the helpless little red-head.

"I like you."

"WHY?!"

"Do i need a reason?"

_She's so damn annoying! Why does she like me?! She smiles at me as if i'm very important to her and acts like... like... like... Sakura..._ Sasuke's thoughts calmed down as he thought of the pink-haired Kunoichi.

"Are you thinking of someone you love?"

"Wha---" Sasuke nearly blushed.

"Is she important to you?"

Sasuke thought about the question. He had always considered Sakura 'annoying', but did he really mean it?

"Why did you leave your village?"

"How did you know..."

"Come on, everyone know you come from Konoha!"

"Well..."

Sasuke told the little girl everything. he couldn't believe it himself, he was telling a ten-years-old little girl EVERYTHING? But it felt so... stressed to keep everything within... to hide his emotion at all times... something about this girl makes him feel secured...

Silence was shared between them when Sasuke finished his story.

"Friendship is powerful," she finally spoke, "it is more powerful than any kind of jutsus... this is what Fantasy once told me..."

"Hn..." Sasuke obviously thought that was gibberish.

"She said... you never know what you own until you have already lost it..."

"..." _you never know what you own until you have already lost it?_ "What did I own? I own nothing, Itachi took everything away from me!"

"Really? you call friendship and love 'nothing'?"

"It doesn't give me the power!" Sasuke was angry._ why can't this stupid girl see? I am an avenger!_

"Sasuke-Kun... one becomes truely powerful when they protect something they love... this is why Naruto-Kun became stronger than you."

"He is not stronger than me."

"I think he is." Ran gave Sasuke a small hug, "and I think you care for this Sakura a lot more than you think."

That night, Sasuke fought with his inner feelings... he can't possibly abandon what he had came so far for... revenge... just for a mere friendship and love talk with a little girl? Memories flashed past him... start with the first day they were assigned as a team... the time when they fought side by side... the time when Sakura hugged him in the Chunnin exams... the time when Naruto risked his own life to save him from Orochimaru... Sakura's tear-filled eyes as he left Konoha... Naruto's blood-stained face as they fought at the valley of the End... but all the images cleared away as he remembered how Itachi killed his clan...

_No. I am an avenger. Friendship has no importance to me. _

Ran stopped annoying him for days.

Sasuke wondered if she was alright. But he soon dismissed the idea. Fantasy's her best friend, no one can harm Ran when she has such a powerful ally. yes... powerful..._ If I have powers like hers I shall be able to kill Itachi and revenge!_

"So, have you decided?"

Sasuke looked at Ran blandly, "where have you been."

Ran laughed, "so you missed me, chicken-head?"

Sasuke twitched... _Chicken-head? _Not killing her is one matter, but this is another... she insulted him!

"I was joking!" Ran hurried on, sensing some unpleasant killing intent Sasuke was sending.

"..."

"Seriously, Sasuke-Kun, what will you do AFTER you killed your brother?" Ran stated, "your way of seeking power have made you lost all the trust, dignity and pride you have... once you have enough power, you'd be left with nothing... the only thing that keeps you alive would be the ambition of killing your brother... and once you've done that." she paused, "you'd even lose your one and only family AND the one will that kept you living..."

Sasuke's gaze wandered around them... _What will I do after i kill Itachi..._

"And presume I convinced Fantasy to kill Itachi for you-----"

"NO."

"Pardon?"

"I will kill him myself."

Ran sighed. _He doesn't get it at all! what a chicken-head!_

But unknown to her... her words kept Sasuke thinking... thinking about what Kakashi said years ago... _is it really worth it?_

After months and months of 'brain-washing' as Ran liked to call it, Sasuke finally decided that he'll go back to Konoha after he kills his brother.

"YOU IDIOT!" Ran knocked Sasuke's head, "you REALLY didn't understand a word i said, did you?!"

"..."

"I-----WANT----YOU----TO----GO---BACK----TO---KONOHA---NOW!" She pronouced every syllable loud and clearly, "N-O-W, NOW." she spelt it for him.

"..."

Another month's persuasion. 

"Why do you want me to go back to Konoha?" _Why are you helping me like this?!_

"Fantasy... she used to be a lot like you..." Ran's always-hyper-and-happy face suddenly changed... a tone of sadness came into her voice.

End flashback

* * *

Next chapter 

Sasuke Vs. Neji! Battle II

alright, this is as much information as i shall give you about Fantasy and Ran's past... and this is as much as i shall write about the reason Sasuke came back to Konoha... damn, it's 2:00am, i can't think! anyway, get the story back on track... next, we have Neji vs Sasuke again!

and thank you for the votes, keep voting, Sasuke lovers... Neji's winning, lol.

PS: and i shall leave you awesome-wonderful-amazing readers to figure out what happened in the five years' skip! lol, lots and lots of plots in the story, see if you can spot them all... heh hhe, see? I _**plan**_ my story... clues: connection between Fantasy and Ran, connection between Ran and Sasuke, connection between Neji and Sakura, Sakura's love for Lavendars, Fantasy's love for Neji, and Fantasy's words... oh and Sakura and Neji's conversation... heh heh... I love detective-ish stories!

PSPS: thank you very very very much, **_silvercrimsonshadow_** for pointing out my grammar/spelling errors!

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	14. Sasuke Vs Neji! Battle II

Fantasy: I hate that Sasuke.

Ran: come on, you were once like that, too!

Fantasy: NO WAY! How could I be like that!

Ran: -rolls eyes- yep, you were way worse...

Fantasy: humph. -Sulking- but all he talks about is revenge!

Ran: ya, that's my point! You should've seen yourself when Yuu killed------

Fantasy: -glares- DO.NOT.MENTION.THAT.NAME... understand?

Ran: uh... s...so...sorry...

* * *

Chapter 14 

Sasuke Vs. Neji! Battle II

* * *

Neji wasn't interested in Sasuke's story at all. He never liked this traitor. 

"Hn." the ANBU captain walked off.

"NEJI!" Lee chased after him, "we are supposed to train together!"

"Tenten is still not here yet."

"NE------JI!" Tenten shouted in a sing-song voice as her name was mentioned, "and LEE!"

"Let's go." Neji headed for the training grounds.

"What's wrong with him..." Naruto watched them walking away, _I wonder what happened between Sasuke and Neji this morning._

"OH, NEJI BABY!---------" Fantasy ran after the three, "I'm coming, too!"

Sasuke and Ran were sweat-dropping...**_ Neji baby?_**

* * *

"Let's go!" Lee trained with Neji. 

Fantasy was helping out, too. She fought with Tenten. The two girls soon became great friends, both admiring each other's 'girl-power'.

"Hakkeshō Kaiten!" Neji blocked Lee's Konoha Senpū with a spin.

* * *

"Tenten... can you help me with some extra training?" Neji asked. Tenten knew Neji wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. 

"Okay."

Fantasy and Lee went home, well, actually, Fantasy PRETENDED that she went home, but she ACTUALLY hid in the bushes, hiding her presence.

The two fought in silence, not knowing Fantasy was watching them intently.

"Can we please rest for a while, Neji? I'm a bit tired..." Tenten panted.

Neji nodded lightly, face still stoical.

After a long moment of silence, Tenten finally asked, "Neji... what's wrong?"

The stoic boy shook his head; he didn't want to tell anyone about it.

But Tenten wouldn't give up so easily. They were best friends, and she was determined to find out what was wrong.

* * *

Neji had to tell her. 

"So that's what happened... happy now?" Neji growled.

"That Sasuke! And Sakura! And! And!" Tenten was furious. So was Fantasy, who nearly showed her presence.

_I have to kill that Sakura girl. She doesn't deserve Neji's love... _Fantasy planned.

"So you broke up with Sakura?" Tenten asked.

"No... I think I'll forgive her." the tall boy gave his friend a tiresome smile.

"WHAT?! After what she did?!"

Neji didn't answer. He walked away again...

Seeing Neji was out of earshot, Fantasy jumped out from her hiding place, "Tenten, we've gotta do something about this!"

* * *

Sakura wanted to kill herself for being so stupid. _How could I... why did I do such a thing..._ she cursed herself. 

**we have to apologize to Neji!**

_yes... but how?_

**just tell him you're sorry.**

_I don't think sorry is enough... he'll never forgive me..._

the inner Sakura sighed, **what if he leave us...**

-bump-

"N-Neji?" Sakura looked up and saw her boyfriend's dark eyes gazing down her own jade-colored ones.

"Hn." His strong arms were around Sakura's slim body.

"I...You...uh..." Sakura stuttered, "Why are you here?" she punched herself mentally for the stupid statement.

"I was training."

"oh... so, was is good?"**Stop mumbling stupid things! **_get to the point already!_

"Hn."

"I...I just want to say..." She fidgeted.

Neji gave her a little smile.

"IMSOSORRYABOUTWHATHAPPENEDCOULDYOUPLEASEFORGIVEME!"

She said it so fast that Neji didn't understand a word. But he knew she was apologizing.

"It's okay." He kissed her softly.

"You are mad at me, aren't you?"

"of course not."

"then where were you..." Sakura hugged him.

"I told you, I was training."

"but I saw Lee ages ago, he said your team finished training already!"

Neji sighed, "I was doing extra training with Tenten."

_Extra training... with Tenten?_ Sakura shook some strange thoughts out of her head, "oh."

"Don't worry."

"You could've trained with ME..." Sakura looked away, "Why..."

Neji sighed again, _Women, they had to be suspicious with everything... _"Tenten is my best friend, Sakura."

_... Maybe he is still mad at me... no... I shouldn't think such things, I'm sure there's nothing going on between Tenten and MY boyfriend... **I'M** the problem in our relationship..._ She smiled at Neji.

"NEJI!" Tenten accidentally broke their moment, "oh... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay." Sakura told her quietly.

"um... I was just going to tell Neji... There's a mission for us." Tenten gave a sheet of document to him.

_A mission for them? Tenten and Neji? _Sakura felt a surge of jealousy.

"See you tomorrow then!" the weapon mistress waved and ran off.

"Hn."

The handsome ANBU captain read his mission task sheet.

"Neji?"

"Sorry Sakura. I've got to go, bye." In a spiral of leaves, he was gone.

The pink-haired Kunoichi was disappointed... she expected something much more dramatic... perhaps with her crying out Neji's name and beg for his forgiveness then he turned and decided that he still love her, then they could kiss in the rain and give each other never ending promises... but everything happened so... 'unexcitedly'. Neji's love had always being so... light and pale to her... Sakura sniffed. _What if he doesn't love me anymore?_

She wanted more reassurance... she wanted more romance... she was afraid he might leave her. _What if he falls in love with Tenten?_

so many thoughts overwhelmed her, she cried when she got home. _Dammit! why am I crying? since when have I become like this?! stop it, Sakura, Stop it!_

It didn't help. She wished Neji could surprise her and turn up in front of her doorsteps, but he didn't... instead ----- Sakura stopped crying and stiffened ----- Sasuke was standing in front of her.

He pulled the sad Sakura into a warm embrace.

_Uchiha: 2; Hyuuga: 0,_ Sasuke thought happily.

* * *

Sasuke whispered romantic words into her ear... as he was about to kiss her----- 

"What are you doing, Uchiha?" cold words froze him in fear, a sudden killing intent appeared behind him...

* * *

Next chapter 

Winner

I'm so sorry about the late update... and I don't have a good reason for it... -sob- would you believe me if I told you I completely forgot about my story? omg... this chapter is so lame...

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	15. Winner

Fantasy: I can't believe you have a crush on this guy...

Ran: come on... you gotta admit he's really hot!

Fantasy: ... He's so... ARGH! -Killing intent rises-

Ran: well, I can't believe you have a crush on that Neji, too!

Fantasy: alright, readers, you are all on my side, aye? Neji, is WAY cooler than Sasuke, right?!

* * *

Chapter 15 

Winner

* * *

The moment Neji hugged Sakura, he knew he didn't have to worry at all... No matter how hard that Uchiha tries, Sakura will always be he, Neji Hyuuga's. He ran his fingers down his smooth long hair and smiled,_ Sasuke will never understand... In the end, the winner will be me._

* * *

Sasuke turned around slowly, only to see an angry Fantasy glaring at him with frightening eyes. No, the word angry was not enough to describe the short girl's emotion, she was far beyond angry and she was ready to kill. 

The killing intent made Sasuke shiver slightly, and beside Fantasy, Tenten looked at the two with disgust.

"Sasuke, we need to talk." the weapon mistress told him coldly.

Sasuke forced a smirk and followed Tenten down the road. He was relieved to get away from Fantasy.

* * *

"Sakura." Fantasy walked into the medic-nin's house and invited herself to sit on the comfortable pink couch in the living room, "If you don't treasure Neji's love for you, I'd happily take him away from you." 

Sakura bit her lip and looked on the floor, feeling very guilty and embarrassed.

Fantasy ignored Sakura's uneasiness and continued, "he loves you, and you cheated on him? I can't believe he forgave you for kissing with another guy!"

"I..." Sakura was nearly crying. She was scared of the powerful aura the other girl was sending.

"You have no excuse," Fantasy sneered, "It's like, what would you think if you saw Neji kissing me then sleeping with Tenten?"

"..." Images ran through Sakura's head, but it seemed... funny. She can't really imagine Neji doing that...

"Really, there he was, trying his best to please you, asked you to train with him--------"

"He never asked me to train with him! He was training with Ten-----"

Before Sakura could finish protesting, Fantasy gave her a death glare, "He WAS going to, until he saw you making out with that chicken-head."

"I wasn't..." Sakura's face was turning into a shade of crimson.

"ANYWAY!" Fantasy demanded Sakura's full attention, "You are a bitch and unworthy of Neji-KUN's love." She concluded her statement with a slap on Sakura's face.

Sakura touched her burning cheek. Blinking, she still couldn't believe what just happened.

"I'm gonna beat some sense into you." Fantasy said blandly.

With that, Fantasy started off with testing her Mangekyo Sharingan on the poor pink-haired kunoichi...

* * *

"YOU FINALLY CAME BACK TO KONOHA AND ALL YOU DO IS STEAL SOMEONE ELSE'S GIRLFRIEND?!" 

Meanwhile, at the other side of the town, Tenten was lecturing Sasuke. She screamed every single word in Sasuke's ear, making sure Sasuke understood her every sentence.

* * *

"Youthful..." 

"Yes, Ramen?"

"Tenten can be really scary..."

"... I agree."

"HEY GUYS!"

The two young ninjas jumped at the sudden high-pitched voice that just came through their bleepers.

"?"

"This is Blue!"

"?"

"... I'm Ran!"

"How the heck----"

"I can't believe Chicken-head is so stupid..."

"How did you kno-----"

"Well, DUH! You can hear Tenten's scream all the way down in Suna..."

"..."

"As I was saying, Chicken-head never consider others' feelings..."

"he's Teme!"

"No, he's Unyouthful!"

"Chicken-head!"

"Teme!"

"Unyouthful!"

"Fine. we'll call him Unyouthful-chicken-head-teme."

"..."

* * *

-knock- 

Neji opened his door and yawned, who would come and visit at midnight?

"Neji-kun..."

"Sakura?"

Sakura cried and hugged him tight.

Neji ruffled her hair and buried his face into it, "What's wrong."

"I love you." Her voice was muffled in his shirt.

Uchiha: 0; Hyuuga: 3...

* * *

"Sakura...why are you so bruised?" Neji suddenly looked alarmed and carefully picked up Sakura in his strong arms. 

Sakura hesitated, "I fell over..."

Neji raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Next Chapter 

Forgotten Memory

Fantasy: -sigh- as long as Neji's happy... I don't care what happens to me.

Ran: ... -sniff-

Fantasy: what's wrong?

Ran: promise you won't kill me?

Fantasy: sure.

Ran: You used to say that about Yuu...

Fantasy: -veins pops out of her head- ...

Ran: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T KILL ME!! -runs around-

Fantasy: I TOLD YOU NOT TO MENTION THAT NAME!

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	16. Forgotten Memories

Fantasy: I LOVE NEJI!

Ran: I LOVE SASUKE!

* * *

Chapter 16 

Forgotten Memories

* * *

Forgotten Memories, 

Wandering in the broken dreams,

Hopes that had lost its wings,

Are simply the melancholy of the fantasies...

* * *

_In a small village at the Land of Lake, a little girl was playing beside a stream. Clear water ran through her tiny hands, she giggled. _

_Not far from her, a little boy about her age watched, dark eyes filled with curiosity but too stubborn to admit that he wanted to play, too._

_"You wanna play?" The girl smiled brightly and tilted her head, "You are new..."_

_"Hn." The dark-haired boy still had the serious look pasted on his cute face._

_The girl laughed, "Play with me!" She held out her soft hand to the boy. He hesitated, unsure of what to do. She grabbed him and pulled him into the stream._

_The water was very shallow, only up to their chests._

_The little girl splashed water all over the boy's short hair and laughed. He finally gave in and smiled._

_"How old are you?"_

_"I'm five." The boy said, a hint of pride in his still high-pitched voice._

_"Oh... I'm only four." She envied him._

* * *

_-Winter- _

_"Look! It's snowing!" she stood in the snow with widened eyes._

_"Hn."_

_"Come on! Let's build a snowman!" _

* * *

_-Spring-_

_"Look at this Cherry blossom..."_

_"Hn."_

_"Isn't it pretty?"_

_"I prefer lavenders."_

_"Really?"_

_"Hn."_

_"I guess they are both very pretty." The girl stared into the boy's dark eyes...(AN: see reason for dark eyes in the postscript)  
_

* * *

_-Summer- _

_The two sat on beautiful flower field together, watching the clouds floating across the blue sky, but they were quiet, feeling very sad. _

_"Dad said we have to go back soon..."_

_"Do you really have to go?" she sniffed. They've become great friends in the nine months._

_"Hn." The boy hasn't changed much, he was still serious and quiet, but the girl could tell that he had softened a little._

_"I'll miss---" she hugged him, crying as the rest of her sentence was caught up in her throat._

_The boy patted her back. He was a bit shorter than his pink-haired friend, but he always acted as her elder._

_"I like you." She wiped her tears, "Promise to stay in contact, okay?"_

_He gave her a solemn nod; "I'm going to marry you when I grow up." Then he gave her a flower._

_"Lavender?" The girl looked at him through her teary eyes and blushed._

_"Hn." A light shade of red appeared on his cheeks._

* * *

_The boy left._

_The little girl waited for him... but she never heard anything from him ever since that day. They never asked each other's name, both believed fate would bring them together again... well, at least the boy said so._

_Years and years passed by. The girl turned ten. Her family moved to Konoha._

_She still had the wilted lavender in a little box. All she remembered was that once upon a time, there was a boy she liked, promising to marry her as he gave her this lavender..._

* * *

_Ever since that year, the boy dreamt of the village, and a girl he used to play with... a girl filled with laughter. The girl's look went blurry through his dreams over the years, she became a voice, childish, but full of happiness, haunting his nights._

* * *

_The moment Sakura saw Sasuke; her heart skipped a beat._

_The short raven hair... the dark eyes... the handsome features and his expression... the little 'Hn' that he often muttered..._

_But something was missing... she soon shook the thought out of her mind. She nagged Sasuke, hoping he could give her a clue to the missing piece of her memory..._

* * *

"Lavender..." Sakura murmured in her sleep. 

Neji looked at his girlfriend. _Lavender?_

"Sakura?" The tall boy caressed the girl, "What's wrong?"

She didn't wake up... but continued her sleep-talk, "Do you really have to go? ...You promised... stay in contact..." The boy's cute voice echoed through her dream,_ 'I'm going to marry you when I grow up.'_ Sakura sniffed in her sleep.

Memories flashed before Neji's eyes as he listened... _stay in contact... _

He smiled, "I'm going to marry you when I grow up." Neji whispered in her ear.

Sakura's eyes shot open.

The forgotten memory was not forgotten anymore.

* * *

Next chapter 

Forever Waiting

Ran: that was so sweet...

Me: of course.

Ran: did you actually plan this from the very beginning?

Me: Yep! If you look back to chapter three, it mentioned Neji's dream.

Ran: wow...

PS: People's memories develop when they are about three, so around four and five, the memories are often blurry. Oh and the reason why Sakura thought Neji's eyes were dark was because his parents were on a mission, so they didn't want Neji to be threatened by enemies, therefore they placed a genjutsu on the little boy... which is also a main reason Sakura didn't recognise Neji thirteen years later...

PSPS: I'm sorry that I haven't replied every single reviews... I try my best to do that, but I might've missed some of them and I apologize if I didn't reply your review...

* * *

-End of chapter- 

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	17. Forever Waiting

Okay, two more chapters to go and it's an end (I think)... HOORAY! In case you are wondering... the last chapter's name is... **"A purple cherry blossom"**.

oh and _**denial25rox**_ requested Gaara to appear, so here it is, your dream had come true...lol.

as for _**Sasuke's-girl**_, I'm going to TRY to make Kakashi appear... I'm not sure though, it may be too random...

* * *

Chapter 17 

Forever Waiting

* * *

"When will you be back?" 

"As soon as possible, Sakura." The tall boy kissed his girlfriend softly before putting a mask over his handsome face. He hugged the medic-nin one more time and wiped off the tears on her face gently with his thumb.

"Promise you'll take care of yourself." She murmured.

"Wait for me... "

Sakura nodded, remembering what Neji had promised her... _'I will always be back here, my cherry blossom.'_

The cherry tree swayed, beautiful blossoms started to bloom as if doing this just for the lovers.

* * *

-three days later- 

"The scroll is in the next chamber, get it!"

Tenten threw a few more kunais before retreating to another room.

"Byakugan!" Neji knocked out the three genins who tried to stop them.

* * *

-Konoha- 

The ANBU captain had been gone for nearly two months. Every morning, Sakura's friends could see the pink-haired kunoichi standing undera cherry tree near the gate of Konoha.

"Sakura..." Ino had a worried look on her face.

"He said he will always be back here." her eyes were gazing off in the distance.

"Well, he never said you need to wait for him under this tree..."

"He did want me to wait for him under this tree." Sakura's jade-eyes looked at her friend stubbornly. Without any other words, she continued coming here in the mornin; it had become a routine for her life... come to the tree, go home and have breakfast, train, lunch, more training, come back to the tree again, then go home...

* * *

-Elsewhere- 

Neji and Tenten protected the secret scroll.

"Tenten!" He threw the scroll to his teammate, "Go! I'll catch up!"

The masked girl nodded to her captain and ran without another word.

"Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" The Hyuuga genius hit the in-range enemies on their chakra points.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" A water dragon roared towards Neji as more ninjas appeared. Neji dodged the fierce dragon, but another one appeared behind him and sent him flying through the trees.

_Damn, where did they come from?!_ The dark-haired boy wiped the blood off his face. More Kunai were flung to him, white-robed ninjas surrounded him.

"Hakkeshō Dai Kaiten!" He spun, but felt his chakra slipping away as he used even more of it, "Hakke Kūshō!" he pushed most of the enemies away with the huge chakra blast.

"Team three and six, chase the girl. We'll take on this guy." One of the opponents signalled to his allies.

_I can let them pass! Tenten is severely injured... if they caught up with her, we'd lose the scroll..._ Neji took a deep breath. This is it...

"Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō!"

"Two strikes!"

"Four strikes!"

"Eight strikes!"

…

"One Hundred Twenty-Eight Strikes!"

Blood dripped from the ANBU captain's arms, he used up all of his remaining chakra. The enemies stared at him in disbelief as they fell...

"Sōshōryū!" Hundreds of weapons were thrown to the last few standing enemies. Neji turned to see Tenten standing behind him, panting and limping towards himself.

"Tenten."

She collapsed beside him.

* * *

-Konoha- 

"Hokage-sama," Sakura asked carefully, "How long was Neji-kun supposed to be away for?"

"Approximately two months. Why are you asking this?"

"He's still not back..." Sakura fiddled with her fingers.

Tsunade eyed her student carefully, "Sakura," she patted the girl on the head, "Neji is one of the best ninjas of Konoha, an ANBU captain and the famous Hyuuga genius," She winked, "I doubt anything would happen to this ninja."

Sakura smiled.

* * *

-three months after Neji left for the mission- 

Neji's ANBU team was feeling uneasy when their captain still haven't returned after such a long time. Neji was a trustworthy captain, he cared about his sub-ordinates, and he was a great ninja who took all sorts of responsibilities.

With their beloved captain absent for over so many months, the ANBUs were in an uproar. They found themselves with a lot more work than usual, since now they have to write all the reports, and complete the dangerous missions.

Rumours were spread that Neji was captured by the Akatsukis, it was even said that Neji died in a battle. But Sakura refused to believe such nonesense. She continued waiting for her love's return under the cherry tree... _He promised._

* * *

Fantasy supervised Sasuke under Tenten's request; she was quite happy to do so. Since her eyes evolved, the short girl wasn't afraid of the Uchiha's bloodline limit any more. When Sasuke wanted to 'take the chance' and flirt with Sakura, Fantasy gave him a 'Hakke Rokujūyon Shō' (she used sharingan copied Neji's technique, and since she also has the Byakugan so she could use it perfectly just like any other Hyuuga). 

"Dammit! Neji you bastard, come out in the open and fight like a man! Stop attacking me from behind!" Sasuke was very angry when suddenly out of nowhere someone attacked him. But after all, Sasuke was a strong ninja, so he dodged it... barely.

"Jūken!"

"What the hell!" Sasuke activated his sharingan and posed into a defending stance. There was no one there... Sasuke checked his surrounding, but found nothing. The 'Unyouthful-chicken-headed-teme' was very frustrated, and as he was about to turn back into the flirting, Sakura was gone.

Sasuke looked for Sakura... and found her standing under the cherry tree again. "Does she ever do anything else other than standing under that stupid tree?!" Sasuke growled in a low voice.

Fantasy smiled around the corner,_ guess this pink-girl isn't so bad after all... she certainly is very devoted to Neji-kun._

* * *

Gaara of the desert arrived Konoha under the Hokage's request. Appearantly, someone blackmailed the Hokage... just to be on the safe side, the Hokage asked for the Sand-nins' help. 

"Gaara, slow down please!" Kankuro called out to his brother.

The shukaku vessel ignored him and continued walking. As he walked past Konoha gate, he saw a girl standing under a cherry tree... flowers spiralled around the girl's slender figure, he could see the girl's hair was pink like the cherry blossoms around her... She turned and looked at him with her emerald eyes.

"Gaara?"

Gaara blinked as the girl said his name. Then he remembered this girl, they've met before...

"Sakura?"

* * *

Next chapter 

Ending

Fantasy: What the hell, first Sasuke and now GAARA?!

Ran: well... at least now Sasuke can be all mine, heh heh...

Me: dream on... you two aren't going to get any of the guys.

Fantasy: not fair!

* * *

-End of chapter- 

**_My little anonymous-review-replying whiteboard!_**

Thank you, **silvercrimsonshadow, GEMsJewel, Phantom's Bride, FlareKnight**, and **denial25rox** for your wonderful reviews!

1.** Somebody you don't know**: HELP ME! -screams- I'm being attacked by an army of flying scorpions! Who did this?! -angry glare- hey wait, it was you, wasn't it! Hah! Just because I didn't update for two days doesn't mean you could do this to me! lol, jokes. Don't worry, I'll definitely finish this story!

2. **Sasuke's-girl**: thanks for the constant support, and I'm sorry that I can't make Kakashi and Sakura fall in love... too hard... but it was a lovely idea, lol. And as you asked in chapter five, I made Sasuke appear in the story... aren't you proud of me? hah hah. Oh and by the way, I'm a girl.

3.**rakerochan**: I did think of the idea of making Sakura walking up to the ramen stand... but it didn't turn out well. So unfortunately, it failed... thanks for the idea though!

4.**hamtaroisacutie**: Well, I'm sure there are lots of good LeeXSakura story out there... just keep trying, lol.


	18. Ending

Yes... A new chapter... ahhhhhhhhhh...

Fantasy: just one more to go, lost-in-shangrila, you can do it!

Me: but i'm so tired... and I don't have time! -sniff-

Ran: come on... finish the story... then you'll be free of the flying scorpians which a certain reader kept sending you...

Me: ahh... -shudders- OKAY I'M UPDATING! -gets up at once-

* * *

Chapter 18 

Ending

* * *

Kankuro, Gaara and Temari walked into the Hokage tower. 

"Tsunade-Sama," Shizune reported, "The sand-nins are here."

"Send them in."

The allies of Konoha entered, Tsunade turned to them with a tired smile, "So many things happened in the last few weeks..." she paused, "I wish I never sent Neji on his mission..." a hint of regret was in her voice. She picked up a piece of paper from the mountains of paperwork on her desk, and gave it to the sand-nins.

_**All Dojutsu users will die.**_

_**White Wolf**_

"I recieved this, four days after Neji went away on his mission..." Tsunade murmured the last part of her sentence quietly, giving a quick glance out the window as she said it.

"It seems that this White Wolf wants to kill the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan..." Kankuro snatched the paper off Temari.

"Who is this 'White Wolf'?" Temari frowned.

"In the beginning, I wasn't too worried about this note. But I sent Jiraiya to gather information on this 'White Wolf'. All he found out was in this report." Tsunade took out another sheet and read it out, "White Wolf is an assossiation like the Akatsukis, but they wore white robes. Not all members are S-rank criminals, there are different ranks in this gang. Four years ago, they killed the last members of the 'Demon' clan..."

"Demon clan?"

"Yes... No one knew their real family names, only that their ancesters were the once most powerful Dojutsu users --- the 'Demon Eyes' bloodline."

"If they were so powerful, how could they be eliminated by the White Wolf?"

"Ninjas with the 'Demon Eyes' bloodline limit extincted a long time ago... though this 'Demon clan' have the blood, but they don't poccess the ultimate bloodline limit."

"How come?" Temari was confused. Normally, bloodline limites come with the blood...

"It's a strange bloodline. But anyway, here's your mission."

* * *

Neji woke up in a cave. 

"What happened?"

Tenten smiled to her ANBU captain, "you must rest."

Neji sat up, he remembered that he collapsed after his battle... and then... _Tenten must've brought me into this cave._ He put his mask back over his handsome face and stood up, "Let's go."

They went out of the cave, but as they were about to proceed...

"Hello... Hyuuga. Neji." A man in a wolf mask stood in front of the Konoha ninjas.

The two ANBUs blinked as the man suddenly appeared in front of them.

"YAH!" Tenten threw several shurikens at the mysterious man.

"This pathetic trick will only work on those kids that you dealt with earlier," he caught the shurikens between his fingers, "but not on me." The wolf-masked man suddenly released a huge amount of chakra.

Neji posed into defence position, though he knew he didn't have any chakra left, he sighed. _This cant be the end..._

"Oh, and before you die, let me introduce myself... remember my name --- Yuu."

"Katon------"

"Sabaku Kyū." Sand wraped itself around Yuu's body before he finished the hand seals.

"Wha------" the white-robed man didn't even finish his sentence, Gaara tightened his fist.

* * *

"Hey, naruto!" Sakura smiled. 

"Sa----kura-Chan!" Naruto looked up from his precious bowl of ramen.

"Where are everybody?"

"Shikamaru, Ino, Kakashi-sensei, Chouji, Gai-sensei..." Naruto started listing all the names of people he knew, "Well, everyone are on a mission."

"What mission?"

"Didn't you know?" Naruto narrowed his eyes, "That old woman said EVERYONE are on this mission!"

"Tsunade-sama did?"

"Well, Gaara, Gai-sensei's team and Asuma-sensei's team went to help Neji, the rest of us are supposed to protect Hinata and Sasuke."

"Help Neji? What happened?! Wait... protect Hinata and Sasuke?" the poor cherry-haired kunoichi was very very confused, "What's going on?!"

**I hope nothing bad happened to our Neji-kun...**

_Why do we have to protect Hinata and Sasuke?_

**Think, girl, think!**

-...

_Hey... they all have Dojutsu bloodline limits!_

**We must know what's going on! Why is Hokage-sama hiding this from us?! **

A very angry Sakura stormed towards Tsunade's office.

* * *

"Gaara?" 

"SOUL- PERISH!" A sword burning with black fire appeared. It slashed through the layers of sand. Yuu swung it down, piercing it through the ground beneath him.

_I've seen this technique before!_ Neji's eyes widened... _Fantasy used it against Naruto!_

"Sabaku Taisō!" The sand rushed towards the black chakra fire sword, but vanished in contact. The shukaku host frowned, _'Desert Imperial Funeral' didn't work?_

The ground crumbled, the chakra blast Yuu sent was getting closer to Gaara.

_It's much slower than Fantasy's technique... and Fantasy's chakra didn't even create a crack on the ground... _Neji watched, but feeling useless as he was unable to help. Of course, he didn't know that Yuu's Soul Perish was a lower version of Fantasy's, he didn't have an insane chakra capacity like her.

"Saikō Zettai Bōgyo: Shukaku no Tatte!(Last Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku)" Gaara created a toy-like replication of Shukaku using his sand, the absolute defene glinted under the sunshine as it was created with extreme pressure and the hardest minerals combined with his chakra.

The black chakra crashed into Gaara's defense.

It was like an earthquake...

-...

Smoke filled the air. As it slowly cleared, Neji saw Yuu and Gaara standing opposite each other.

"That was impressive. You stopped my Soul Perish."

Gaara didn't answer, he was at his limits.

Though the wolf-masked man was trying to sound unharmed; he was exhausted, too. He signalled, ten men appeared behind him.

"Have fun." In a blur of white, Yuu was gone.

* * *

"Heal me, NOW!" Yuu was getting impatient. 

"Come on, don't be mad!" the girl laughed.

"Do it, or I shall kill you."

"Awwww... You are angry at me!" she pouted her lower lip.

Yuu took off his mask and sighed. He was trying his best to control his temper.

"You know, that Hyuuga boy looks like you... a lot." She teased his white hair and finally started pumping chakra into his wounds.

Yuu rolled his eyes.

"Except... you have white hair, black eyes, while he has black hair and white eyes!" the girl announced happily.

"Shut up, would you?!"

"No!"

"Then give me some chakra."

The girl looked at the man in front of her, "why are you doing this?"

* * *

"Dainamikku-Entorī!(Dynamic Entry)" Gai and Lee jumped into the battle scene. 

"YOSH!" The two of them did a good-guy-pose, their teeth sparkled, a rainbow appeared. The enemies sweat-dropped.

"Initial gate, KAI!"

"Energy gate, KAI!"

The two bowl-haircut ninjas shouted as they charged up to the enemies.

"Lee, let's show them the power of youth!"

"YOSH, Gai-sensei!"

Asuma's team soon arrived, too.

The White Wolf members were dumbfounded by the green-spendax-wearers' strange behaviour, as more Konoha ninjas arrived, they started forming their own battle formation.

"One, three, six!"

"Two, seven, nine!"

"This is... The ultimate Eight Trigrams formation!" Neji exclaimed as the White Wolf members moved around.

"What's that?"

"The two people in the middle must be presenting yin and yang, the eight men around them are Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen and Kun..."

"Uh..." Quite a lot of blank faces.

"wujishengyouji, youjishitaiji;  
taijishengliangyi, jiyinyang..." The white-robed men chanted.

"What are they saying?" Shikamraru asked.

"It's Chinese... it means: The Limitless (Wuji) produces the delimited, and this is the Absolute (Taiji)  
The Taiji produces two forms, named yin and yang  
The two forms produce four phenomena, named lesser yang, great yang , lesser yin, great yin;  
The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams (ba gua), eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams..."

"Right... yea, like we totally understood that..." Ino flicked her blonde hair and said in a sarcastic voice.

"You have to understand this to defeat them. This formation is flawless, we must work out a way to make them break the formation..."

"Why aren't they attacking?"

"... It's too complicated to explain..."

"So we have to force them to make a mistake..." Shikamaru sat down and started his 'thinking mode'.

* * *

"Give me ALL your chakra!" 

"NO!"

Yuu glared at her.

"Fine... You are so mean... NII-SAN!"

"Go off and play with your little friends." Yuu growled. _Why do I have such an annoying little sister..._

"Nii-san... you NEVER play with me!"

"Leave me alone."

"Nii-sannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" the girl whined, pulling Yuu's long, white hair...(AN: to people who knows Final Fantasy VII, Yuu's hair is like... Sephiroth's)

"SHUT UP!"

"I healed you, gave you ALL of my chakra, and you didn't even say thanks!"

"THANKS! HAPPY NOW?!" Yuu felt like he would go insane if he listened to one more word of his sister's.

"wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she cried.

Yuu vanished in a white blur.

* * *

The Konoha ninjas panted, all exhausted. 

"So, did you miss me?" a laugh was heard, the wolf-masked man appeared again, "I see you have failed me..." his eyebrows were raised behind his mask as he saw his ten sub-ordinates on the ground, "tell me, how did you lose when you have such a perfect technique?"

"Sorry... Master."

Asuma wiped off his sweat, _Kakashi and Kurenai's team came just in time... it was so close._

"Obviously you made a mistake. All you had to do was to stay in that formation, it was plenty to hold off these brats." Yuu told them coldly.

"They used a decoy... and----"

"I don't want excuses."

_Looks like I have to stop now..._ Yuu gave the ten men just enough chakra to stand up, "Let's go."

* * *

Next Chapter 

A purple Cherry blossom

Fantasy: YUU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ran: oh calm down, Fantasy!

Fantasy: HOW COULD I POSSIBLY BE CALM?! THIS GUY KILLED MY FAMILY AND NOW HE'S TRYING TO KILL MY NEJI?!

Ran: ...

Yuu: Yo, Fantasy-Chan, How are you?!

Fantasy: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! -charges up and punches Yuu-

Me: stop it, Fantasy. Don't kill him! He still have to appear in the next chapter! You can kill him when the story's over, okay?

* * *

-End of chapter- 


	19. A purple cherry blossom

Me: LAST CHAPTER!

Fantasy: I'm so tired of this stupid conversation.

Me: HEY! You were the one who insisted to have it!

* * *

Chapter 19 

A purple Cherry Blossom

* * *

"Give me all of your chakra." Yuu demanded his sub-ordinates. 

"Wow, these guys are really good..."

"A vessel for a demon was there... he had such an insane amount of chakra."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! That reminds me... Nii-san, someone told me he saw Mizu-Chan!"

The white-haired ninja turned to his little sister, "Mizu is alive?"

The girl smiled, but the man's dark eyes widened, "But..."

"And they say she is in Konoha! She changed her name... Fantasy."

"Fantasy?" Yuu smirked,_ of course... Fantasy means a hallucination, an imagination, she invented this name, _"Heh... right." _You won't dissapear so easily, Mizu-CHAN._

"Nii-San?"

"Looks like it was a brilliant idea to attack Konoha." Yuu laughed.

"So are you going to change your plan?"

"No. We will follow the original plan, but be more careful... try to make that Hokage think Mizu is a spy so that Mizu won't know anything about our attack."

"Ah... Nii-san is afraid of Mizu-chan!"

"Pft..." Yuu didn't want to admit it, but he knew the scary power of 'demon eyes', "Kill Mizu if you can." he turned to his the other White Wolf members.

All white-robed men nodded and left.

"Want to know more about Konoha?" the girl asked innocently.

Yuu was finally starting to love his little sister.

* * *

The Konoha ninjas headed back. A few medic-nins who came with Kakashi tended everyone's injuries. 

"Hyuuga-taichou...(Hyuuga captain)" The medic packed up his equipments, "You will have to rest for at least three months, after we get back to Konoha."

"Hn." He didn't hear a word this guy said. All he could think of right now was the petal-haired kunoichi and a certain cherry tree.

"Neji?" Tenten waved her hand in front of the long-hair boy's face.

"The cherry blossoms would've wilted by now..." The tall boy murmured to himself.

"Cherry blossom?" everyone except Tenten and Neji himself laughed.

"Sakura waited for you under that stupid tree everyday," Ino told him, "Every. Single. Fricken. Day."

Neji turned to the blonde, "Hn." _Arigado, Sakura-Chan._

* * *

"Understand?" Tsunade glared at her student. 

"Why can't we tell Fantasy-Chan about this?" Sakura asked.

"I suspect she have something to do with this 'White Wolf'. There are some clues which leads to the possibility that she could be a spy."

"Oh."

Tsunade put a hand on the younger medic-nin's shoulder, "don't stress over this. Everything will be fine."

"But Neji-Kun is their target!" Sakura sneezed. _Who's talking about me?_

* * *

The white-robed men hired some missing-nins, "This is your mission." 

The missing-nins took the sheet, "How much will ya pay us for this mission?"

"As much as you want," White Wolves showed them a suitcase full of money.

"We'll get this done as soon as possible." one of the ninjas grinned, showing his broken teeth.

"Try to avoid fights. Make it quiet."

"Okay."

"Daiki, do you still have the poison?"

"You got it."

The man named Daiki took out a candle carefully and gave everyone a mask.

"What is it?"

"Watch and learn..." Daiki used a shunshin and appeared near the camp of the Konoha ninjas. Just enough distance to the enemies so the jounins won't notice his presence.

Other missing-nins followed him soon after, they masked their faces, Daiki lit the candle.

The candle sent a light fragrance as it glowed. Daiki formed a hand seal and put his fingers on his lips, and blew gently to the candle. The smoke which the candle produced travelled slowly to the Konoha ninjas. Both the smoke and the fragrance dissapeared as it moved, it dissolved into the air around it...

The Konoha ninjas fainted intantly as they breathed in the poisoned air.

* * *

"They only want to pale-eye ninja." Daiki dragged the unconscious ANBU captain out of the camp. 

The other missing-nins shuddered, "What is this poison?"

"It is extracted from five different poisonous flowers, brewed for ten years, then refined several times... it takes at least a hundred years to make this one little candle," Daiki laughed harshly, "this one had been past down through my family."

The others stared at the little candle which the fat man was holding.

"We should fight them head on instead of doing such dirty trick!" A man with a scar across his face looked at Daiki with disgust.

"And YOU can fight all those jounins and die." Daiki sneered.

"No decent ninja would ever use such poison. It is the basic rule of being a ninja!"

"The moment you left your village, you are no decent ninja!" Daiki drew his sword, ready to fight.

"I'm glad you have him." Yuu appeared between the quarelling ninjas, "Here's your payment, you may all go now."

* * *

It was a cloudy day. The pink-haired kunoichi woke up under the cherry tree. She yawned, slender body pushed against the tree. _Why am I here?_

**Because you slept under the tree last night.**

_Oh yeah..._

**LOOK! SOMEONE'S COMING! AND IT LOOKS LIKE INO-PIG!**

Sakura felt all emotions overwhelming her as she saw Ino's blonde hair, excitement, desperation, happiness... "Ino----"

Ino simply ran past her.

"Wait! Ino!" the jade-eyed girl called after her friend.

Ino ignored her and entered the hokage's tower.

A very confused Sakura returned to her cherry tree. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a golden locket... in there, a dried lavendar laid silently over a cherry blossom. She looked up, the cherry tree had withered, leaving emptiness over the once beautiful and prosperous branches... _I almost forgot... It's Winter now... Neji-Kun left in Spring... _She smiled at the thought,_ Neji-kun is coming back!_

Flashbacks played like a movie in her head... All the times she had with Neji, all the words he whispered in her ears...

"Sakura." A familiar male voice rang, knocking her out of her thoughts.

Kakashi put Neji's body down, in front of the strawberry-haired girl, "I'm sorry." he whispered. The jounin dissapeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura froze... _What... happened..._

"They kidnapped him... and he returned seriously wounded," Kiba wiped his eyes, "the medics said there's nothing they could do..."

"His last wish was to return to this cherry tree..." Shikamaru looked like he had been crying, too.

"He said it was a promise that he must keep." Shino told her.

Everyone bid a last good-bye to the ANBU captain. Tenten couldn't even walk as she leaned on Lee for strength.

Sakura stood motionless as she watched all of this happen. Her mind was blank, her throat was dry... all she saw was her love's cold body in front of her feet...

Hinata came, too... she didn't talk at all. Kiba and Naruto were by her side with a worried look on their faces... Hinata fainted when she heard the news.

"WHAT HAPPENED?! What happened... Wh...Wha---" Fantasy chocked on her own tears and cried her heart out, "Who... did this..."

"A guy called Yuu." Gaara answered.

Fantasy stared at him.

Ran's eyes widened at the sound of the name, "Did you just say... Yuu?"

"It's all my fault..." Fantasy murmured, "Yuu knew I was in Konoha... He knew I loved Neji.. He must've did this... because of me!" she gasped for air.

"Fantasy, stop blaming yourself! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF! How could he know about----"

"NO... I..." Fantasy's voice broke, she shook her head frantically... she was going hysteric... thunder was heard... the already cloudy sky became even more cloudy... the water-wielder girl cried uncontroablly... she ran... ran as fast as she could... as far away as she could... wanting to get out of all of this..._ I want to dissapear..._

* * *

"Ah... She is suffering." Yuu laughed maniacally... 

"Nii-san... you would've killed the Hyuuga boy anyway, right?"

"Yes... but our Mizu-Chan doesn't know... She thinks it's all her fault..."

"Nii-san... when can we stop all this..." the girl felt guilt raising within her as she watched Fantasy cried.

"Until all Dojutsu users die. And isn't this great? Mizu thinks because of her, her family died, her friends died, and finally, this boy died... all because of her... yes... ha hah."

"What about that Hyuuga boy's girlfriend?" the white-haired man's younger sister listened to Fantasy's crazy murmurs and suddenly felt sorry for all Neji's friends.

"Who cares." _You will never be able to dissapear... you are a ghost, Mizu, no, Fantasy-Chan._

"Yuu?" Fantasy heard a laugh and stopped her sobbing.

* * *

Everyone left Sakura to have some time alone with Neji. 

She didn't feel any dramatic emotion like Fantasy... the only thing she felt was... emptiness... like the cherry tree...

She couldn't believe it. She WON'T believe it... the boy she loved... the boy everyone respected... is gone? Clear, large drops of tears rolled down her cheeks without her knowing it...

After hours of standing there staring at Neji's cold body, she finally screamed out his name, as if this could bring him back... her voice echoed in Konoha... she wanted to run, run away from this reality...

Her heart ached, it felt as if it's being scratched by thousands of knives. Her head spinned, she had no idea what she will do next... her soul collapsed.

"Neji..." she whispered as she bent down and hugged his body close, "Don't... don't leave me..."

Her tears seemed to have turned into a rain of yearning, a shower of sadness... long, thin strands of water blew in the wind, silent... soft... like the way Neji used to touch her... like the way Neji used to kiss her...

_'I'm going to marry you when I grow up.' _A little boy's face appeared in Sakura's mind, she smiled bitterly at the memory...

The cherry tree swayed, as if weeping for her...

_'I promise… I won't leave you.' _Sakura took off Neji's ANBU mask, "What happened to your never-ending promise, Neji-kun?"

The golden locket dropped on the ground... making a tinkling sound...

_'I will always be back here, my cherry blossom.' _She touched his pale cheek with her finger tips, "Why?" she felt her own tear drowning her in this ocean of despair...

Her own lips touched Neji's cold ones... her lavendar scented hair fell, tangling with Neji's dark hair like the way Sakura tangled her hands to his... it was a soft kiss, but it's also a long one... all her love was sealed in this one kiss...

_Don't... leave..._

Sakura didn't know how long she stayed by Neji's side... she was tired...

_It was the same dream... but the second one... Sasuke changed into Neji, but instead of leaving, he reached out a hand. Sakura grabbed it, trying to hold on to him as long as possible. She felt that he would leave her soon. Neji just smiled. He didn't say anything; he leaned towards her and held her in his arms. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but she wanted it to last forever. Everything else seemed unimportant now. All she wanted was him, to hold her like this… gently… forever… _

_"Stay…" she murmured. He simply shook his head. _

_"Good bye, Sakura." He breathed in her ears. _

_"Don't go…" she cried. _

_He didn't answer. _

_"Neji…" _

_He released her. _

_"No… Neji… don't…" she sobbed, "don't…" _

_He became a shadow of a shade, dissolving into the background of her dreams… _

_"NEJI!!" she chased after him, unable to touch him, "Neji… No!" she shouted, "don't… don't…" her own voice faded into a whisper… _

_"No… No… Neji…" she repeated those words over and over… standing alone in a darkness that was consuming her. Her tears had run dry… Sasuke came back. But she didn't care. This is not what she wanted… _

_"Neji…"_

She woke up.

A purple cherry blossom fell... spiralling in the wind as it finally landed on Neji's body...

* * *

**-End-**

**PS: there's a semi-sequel to this story. Details in next chapter.**

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	20. Character Info

**Semi-sequel: **

**There's a semi-sequel to this story. A fanfic I wrote called "Moon River". **

_Summary:_

A coldblooded S-rank criminal... An innocent and shy noble girl... Unspeakable love sparkled between them... but their difference was so great... What will happen to their love?**  
**

* * *

--- 

-

---

-

---

* * *

**Character Info I  
**

* * *

Name: Fantasy/Mizu 

Age: 15

Height: 153.2cm

Weight: 45kg

Birthday: 13th January

Blood-type: O

Signature jutsu/Kekkei genkai: Demon Eyes, Soul-Perish

First Appearance: chapter one (lol, I'm just doing what Wikipedia does to the characters)

Defining Characteristics: Mastery of the 'Demon Eyes', specialty in Ninjutsu, perfect control of water/rain.

---

Mizu means water. She is the last member of the "Demon Clan". Since her family was murdered, she changed her name to Fantasy. Her life was filled with hatred and despair after the incident. Wanting to kill the man who did all these, Mizu swore that she would become strong and revenge. Though at the same time, Mizu was miserable and confused because the man who she now hates was once the man she deeply loved.

After struggling and clinging onto life, Mizu finally activated her first level of "Demon Eyes". This is when she met Ran, a girl who felt sympathy to her. At the time, Mizu was cold and heartless, she used bloodthirst to hide her weakness and the emptiness she felt. But Ran continued to approach her even when Mizu hurted her during the process. In the end, Mizu finally felt the warmth of friendship, she felt guilty for treating Ran like how she did before.

From that point on, Mizu became Ran's ultimate protection. Ran was like a little sister to Mizu. Mizu never lets anyone to hurt Ran, that's why she confronted Sasuke when he was ordering Ran around. Sometimes, Mizu gets a bit over-protective.

When she met Neji, Mizu's personality completely changed. Whenever she looks at Neji, she felt that she was looking at the past, when Yuu and her were best friends. But in front of anyone else, Mizu was still the emotionless 'Fantasy'.

After Neji's death, Mizu went insane, because it sort of felt like the time when Yuu left her. Something Mizu always thinks about is: I want to dissapear... She wanted to run away from the reality, but Yuu continued to haunt her.

* * *

**Character Info II  
**

* * *

Name: Ran 

Age: 14

Height: 152.2cm

Weight: 46kg

Birthday: 4th March

Blood-type: A

Signature jutsu/Kekkei genkai: none

First Appearance: chapter seventeen

Defining Characteristics: red hair

---

Ran is outgoing and nice, she is completely the opposite to Mizu, except she's crazy about Sasuke like how Mizu is crazy about Neji. Ran likes to help people because of her nature, but she isn't a very good ninja since she loves playing around and is sometimes very lazy. She is one of the few people who knows Mizu's secret. 

Ran had always been quite jealous of Sakura, since Ran sarcastically refers to Sakura as "The girl of Sasuke's dreams". But Ran always knew she doesn't have a chance with Sasuke, no matter how hard she tries...

After Neji's death, Mizu dissapeared, therefore Ran wandered off by herself to find others to help them... she occasionally comes back to Konoha to visit Sasuke, which in one of the semi-sequel she appeared as a psychotherapist.

* * *

AN: I don't even know why I'm writing this... I mean, you guys just stopped reviewing after I finished the story... -tears- I told you guys about the semi-sequel, but none of you read it! -more tears-

* * *

A little Omake: 

"Ramen, what are you doing?"

"Shshhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm... busy."

"HUH?"

"Na-Naruto-kun... Why are you hiding in this... rock?" Hinata's small voice was heard through the bleeper.

"AHHH! HINATA! I... uh..."

"RAMEN! How unyouthful of you! Peeping at Hinata-Chan like this!"

"SHUT UP!"

AN: I'd really appreciate your review, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.


	21. done

Thank you all for your support. Please take this story off your alert now, since I will not update it anymore...

**_Don't forget to read the semi-sequel!!! It's much better than this story!_**

PS: I'd really appreciate your reviews, suggestions and critisisms, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear. **_  
_**


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